


Road Trip—The Relationship Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Humor, Relationship(s), Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 13:20:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 36
Words: 48,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7936297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What in hell were they thinking?  Driving across the country in an RV?  They may all kill each other before it's over.  Takes place during season four probably after The Office Job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Eliot Almost Loses His Shit

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fic I've been attempting to write, so The Forget Me Job is Not finished! I base this fic on a few things: one, my own fic in the Angelverse where Faith and Wesley go on a Road Trip, and two, another fic in the Angelverse by Syn2 called Armadillos & Salsa, where the gang go on a road trip to Texas. Here's the link to the second fic: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1261198/1/Armadillos-Salsa. I kind of go to the extreme on some of these scenes, so bear with me. There's lots of sex, lots of thinking about relationships, and lots of really silly situations that I put these five characters in. Lots of bonding going on too! Have fun and enjoy. I had fun writing it!

Chapter One—Eliot Almost Loses His Shit

“What in hell were we thinking?”

Eliot rolled his eyes again at Parker’s singing.  Hardison smiled his way, telling him he believed she was the best singer in the world.  Sophie placed her hands over her ears in protest.  Nate almost fell out of his chair as Sophie kicked him under the table.  It amazed Eliot that Nate could sleep through something like this, but that hangover must not be pleasant.

He’d kick Nate too once his driving shift was over.  They were only into the third hour of driving from Boston to the Midwest.  It’d take them too many hours to count, but this was the only way they’d get there in one piece.  Ever since Sophie had been tagged by the Feds from one of their cons, it had been difficult for her to travel.  Hardison had been working on another new alias, but Nate didn’t want to take the chance they’d be down one person on this con.  Plus, if Sophie was arrested and jailed, he’d never hear the end of it from their mastermind.  When it came to Sophie, Nate would move heaven and earth to make sure she was safe.

“Oh god, bloody hell, Parker.  Enough.”

Parker couldn’t hear anyone because of her noise cancelling headphones.  Eliot yanked them off her head, swerved on the road a bit, but righted it just before the wheels came off the pavement.

“Eyes on the road,” Hardison yelled.

“Take the damn headphones off before I throw them out the window.”

He’d had enough of the Disney tunes to last a lifetime.  He’d hoped that Hardison did too, but knew the hacker would never tell Parker to shut it.  Looking back through the rear view mirror, he noticed that Nate was now actually awake, but holding his head.

“Serves you right,” Sophie snorted Nate’s way.

“Keep it on the road, Eliot.”

Eliot waved Nate’s way, smirking as he did.

Hardison’s idea of a road trip was not what Eliot had envisioned.  Sure, they had plenty of money to actually buy something nice, but driving something almost as large as a bus was not what Eliot would call pleasant.  Sure, the motorhome was only around 27 feet.  All of them could drive the beast without any training.  He’d been the first to volunteer to drive, definitely afraid of what Parker might do in the city with the thing.  Now that they were on the open road, he might hand it over to her.  She’d already asked if she could take a spin too.  Maybe it would keep her busy and not punching the scan button on the radio.

“Pick a station,” he chided her.

She kept punching the scan button.

“Pick a station,” he growled out.

He slapped her hand away and punched the button once more, landing on a country station to his liking.

“Driver picks the music.”

Glancing in the rear view mirror again, which did no good in the vehicle he was driving, he watched as Sophie grabbed Nate’s flask, his hands reaching to take it back.  She slapped his hands down, opened the flask and downed it in one go.  He couldn’t see Nate’s expression, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

“Hey, that’s mine.”

So now they’d have a drunken Sophie, a hungover Nate, a hyper Parker, and lovesick Hardison on the road trip from hell.  And they needed gas.  He’d have to handle all of them on this trip like a drill sergeant if they were to make it to his sister’s house in one piece.

“Listen, all of you.  We need gas.  We will stop, grab snacks, go do our business and nothing more.”

“Do our business?” Parker asked.

“We are not having this conversation again, Parker.”

“It has a bathroom.  Why can’t we use it?”

“Only in emergencies.  Dammit, woman.  Just use the bathroom when we stop.”

“Geez, Eliot.  You don’t have to get so mad.”

Living in a cramped space was trying his patience like nothing before.

“There better be a store,” Nate added.  “To buy snacks.”

“Right.  Besides, it’s Sunday, isn’t it?”

“Sunday?  What does that have to do with anything?”

“Some states don’t sell alcohol on Sundays, Nate,” Hardison warned him.

“Kill me now.”

Hardison just smiled his way, knowing that if Nate put his mind to it, there would at least be beer on their horizon.

“Hey, wait a minute, it’s still Saturday,” Parker filled in.

“Parker,” Sophie yelled.

Eliot really, really needed this break anyway, even if Nate did buy copious amounts of alcohol, Parker didn’t know what a restroom break meant, and Hardison would have to get back in the motorhome without using the store’s Wi-Fi.

“I’m driving next,” Parker said as Eliot pulled the beast to the pump to fill it up.

“Not your shift.”

“Party pooper.”

Nate was off like a shot, Sophie hot on his heels to supervise.  Hardison and Parker walked as a pair, shoulders touching, Parker’s ponytail all skewed from sitting in the passenger seat next to him.  As Eliot started pumping the gas, he leaned his head against the RV and sighed.  He thought that maybe this could be a bonding experience between the five of them.  Lately, they’d had a tough time of it, all of them experiencing episodes that shook their faith in the team as a whole.  The fact that Hardison hid that he had just cleared Sophie for flying only hours before (only Eliot knew the truth), that Nate hadn’t flinched when he had suggested driving, and Sophie actually agreed had cinched the deal.  They needed some downtime, but not necessarily away from each other.  Hopefully that would happen after this job was completed. 

It took way too long to fill up the large tank on the beast, but none of his cohorts had shown up, so he decided to move the RV to the side of the gas station so he could do his business too and grab some coffee.  As he walked into the store, he saw Hardison tapping away at his phone, Parker picking out more junk food than one human could consume, Nate sticking his head in where the beer was since he didn’t see any hard liquor in sight.  Now where was Sophie?  As he walked to the back, he noticed something really strange.  They were the only ones in the store.  There were several cars out front, so where was everyone else?

Placing his ear bud in his ear, he hoped that Sophie had hers on her person too.  She’d taken to carrying the thing ever since Chaos had attempted to blow her up a few years prior.  He always carried his somewhere on his person, just in case.

“I don’t think you want to do this,” he could hear Sophie say.

No way could he warn the others quickly enough.  Only he didn’t have to with Parker at his elbow before he could move.  Apparently she had put her earbud in also.

“Back of the store,” Parker whispered.

“The others?”

“Nate’s circling around the other side.  Hardison is trying to hack into the security system.”

Before he said anything, they already had each other’s backs. 

“Sophie, just stall,” Nate called out, sounding a bit frantic.

“Don’t hurt all these people.  Just keep calm and maybe we can all be friends.”

“I could be your friend,” Eliot heard Sophie’s captor say.

Eliot could hear Nate growl in his comm.  The older man would blow this if his emotions got the better of him.

“Do not, under any circumstances, go in without me, Nate. Sophie can handle herself.”

“What’s the plan?” Nate said.

It amazed Eliot that Nate could go from hungover to clear headed in one second.

“There’s gotta be an entrance or a door outside.  I’ll take Parker with me to get in there faster.  You and Hardison watch the door here to make sure no one escapes.  Hardison?  Anything?”

“Door’s to the right of the store.  Basic lock.  Parker should be able to get through it in a few seconds.  Oh, and there we go. I got the feed from the back of the store.  We need to move, people.  He has Sophie pinned up against the wall.”

Eliot and Parker moved quickly.  It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Parker to pick the lock on the outside door.  By the sound of things from the comm, Nate had managed to do his own work on the lock to the inside door.  Parker was a good teacher.

“How many?” Eliot asked, attempting to block out Sophie’s stalling and Nate’s eagerness to pummel her would-be attacker.

“Three bad guys.  Five hostages, not including Sophie.”

“Weapons?”

“Two guns is all I can see right now.  Could be more.”

“Nate, you gonna have to distract them.  And for fuck’s sake, duck if they point any weapons your way.”

“Got it,” he answered.

“One, two, three, go,” Eliot said into the comms, just so Sophie was ready too. 

He could hear her trying to convince her attacker to back off, but keeping out of his reach.  It was easy to take down the first guy, since he didn’t have a weapon drawn.  Nate had provided a distraction by bursting into the room a few seconds before Eliot did.  He had counted on Nate going before three because that’s just what Nate did.  He had actually planned on it.  Sophie managed to kick her assailant in the groin before getting out of the way of his tackle.  Nate was lucky when one of the guns went off, because the shot went wild when Nate slammed into the bad guy, taking him to the ground.  Nate banged the guy’s head to the hard concrete a few times before Eliot pulled him off.

“You got him,” Eliot said as he yanked Nate up off the floor.

Five people huddled in the corner, one a small child.  They all nodded their thanks as Sophie ushered them out of the dark.  Parker and Hardison guarded the bad guys as Eliot found something to restrain them until the police arrived.  Nate bent over, breathing heavily.  Eliot could see blood on his fist, hoping that he hadn’t hurt himself in the melee.

“You went too soon,” Eliot chastised his friend.

“Yeah, well, you knew I’d go too soon, so there’s that.”

“Three is three.  Got it?”

“I was supposed to cause a distraction.”

“You were supposed to not get shot at, again.”

Nate waved him off, rubbing his hurt hand as he did.

“I don’t think we need to be here once the police arrive.  I definitely don’t want to stick around for weeks while the locals figure out what to do with these lowlifes.”

“Feed is scrubbed of our presence, although their takeover of the store is there for all to see.”

Hardison at his finest, Eliot surmised.  As they entered the store from the back, he could see Sophie comforting the hostages, including the one little boy who was probably no more than six at best.  Nate turned as quickly as he could, grabbed his alcohol and threw a twenty down on the counter as he did.  He and small children did not mix well at all.

Eliot explained to the store clerk that they were undercover and he couldn’t blow it for them.  He instructed the man what to do until the authorities arrived, which by the sounds off in the distance, wasn’t too far away.

“At least I got snacks,” Parker said as they made their way back to the motorhome.

“Did you steal those?” Eliot asked as they pulled the doors open.

“Nah.  I threw another twenty down.  Geez, Eliot. I’m not that harsh.”

His semi-good mood had gone from sixty to zero in seconds flat. 

“Parker, drive,” he announced as he saw Nate holding his hand.

So maybe that blood didn’t belong to Sophie’s assailant.  Or maybe a bit of both.

“Yay.”

“Do not, under any circumstances, speed.”

“OK,” she sighed as she climbed behind the wheel.

“I’m the navigator,” Hardison said as he sat down beside her.

“Doin’ OK?” he asked Sophie as he sat down beside her at the dinette.

“As much as I can be.  Nate, your hand.”

The RV swayed a bit as they got back on the road.  Parker did as he asked and kept it steady as he worked on Nate’s hand.  A few bandages later, he nodded to Sophie as he got up to sit on the sofa that was to the side of the RV.  He wanted to give Nate and Sophie a bit of privacy, which was next to impossible in such a small space.  As his head fell to the back of the sofa, he wondered what other trouble they’d get into before making it to Oklahoma.  As his eyes closed, he watched Sophie take Nate’s injured hand, and Hardison grin again as he looked at Parker.  All was well, for now.  Maybe he’d get that much needed rest he deserved.


	2. Sophie's Not Worried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie's worried about Nate. The women of Leverage bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said at the beginning, there's gonna be lots of sex in this fic. Nate and Sophie cannot keep their hands off of each other.

Chapter Two—Sophie’s Not Worried

She would never get any rest while Nate looked at her the way he did.  The troubled look he had, the way his eyes roamed her, looking for signs of distress worried her.  She was fine.  His knuckles were banged up, but she couldn’t tell whether there were other issues.  Eliot was only able to take care of what was visible.

“Does it hurt?” she asked as he sat across from her.

Hardison was quietly talking with Parker, who was now driving.  Eliot had taken the opportunity to get some sleep, slumped over on the sofa across the way.

“A little.”

“Do you want me to ask Eliot?”

“Leave it.  It’ll be fine.”

“Any other injuries?”

His eyebrow shot up at that question.

“I’ll live.”

She could see that he hated being caged in the motorhome.  He was anxious, twisting his hands here and there, not wanting to look at her, but taking in everything around him as he did.

“Be back,” he said as he got up from his seat.

Surely he shouldn’t be moving around as Parker drove such a large vehicle, but Nate wasn’t going to take no for an answer.  So she followed him as he stuck his head into the refrigerator that was onboard.  Sophie knew what he was after; she just wished he didn’t imbibe right at that moment.

“Must you?”

“I thought you said you didn’t care about this.”

“No,” she said as she swayed up against him as Parker hit a bump.  “I said I wouldn’t baby you.  I still have an opinion.”

“That you do.”

“Come here,” she asked as she opened up the door to the small bedroom at the back.

All that was in the room was a bed, but it would afford them a bit of privacy at least, away from the others.  The other three knew way too much about their so-called relationship or whatever they were calling it.  Her family tended to butt in where they weren’t needed, if just to sigh or roll their eyes or tell them to quit acting like children when they fought.

Sitting down on the bed, Sophie gestured for Nate to do the same.  She could tell he really didn’t want to talk about what had happened back at that store, but she needed to ask.

“You’re going to lecture me about putting myself in danger?”

“No, not at all.  I’m worried that you’re injured more than you’re saying is all.”

He shrugged a bit at her pronouncement.  She’d say it was progress, her not chastising him about his drinking, him not going off on her about her chastising.  The fact that she really was worried about him being injured had a small smile flashing across his face.

“Just the hand.  Shoulder’s a bit sore too.  Nothing anyone can do about that.”

Just as Nate was going to join her in sitting on the bed, Parker made a turn that was faster than it should have been.  Nate tumbled against her, pushing her to the bed as he did. Her breath left her in a whoosh, his chest tightly up against hers. It wasn’t like they’d never been in this situation before since they’d been in each other’s beds several times, naked and panting.  It wasn’t enough though, Sophie thought.  He was taking everything too damn slow for her.

Instead of pushing him off and getting up, she wrapped her legs around his, telling him that indeed, she did like the position he was in right at that moment.  He groaned in response at her movements.  Another bump ground him against her, making her groan in turn.

“We maybe shouldn’t. They’re right outside,” he managed to get out as he moved against her.

“Don’t care,” she told him she arched under him.

“You’ll have to be quiet,” he whispered in her ear, dragging his hand down to her breast.

“I can be,” she answered as her fingers found the zipper on his jeans.

“Not likely,” he stated as his mouth found hers.

Yanking her pants down, it took him a few seconds to line himself up with her in addition to Sophie helping him open the condom that she lifted from his wallet.  Parker really did know how to find each and every pothole in the road, which made it more difficult for the both of them.  When he finally sank into her, Sophie sighed, attempting to keep her moans to a minimum. He always did make her scream every time they were together, but this was much more fun than when she was angry at him.  A lot more fun.

His strokes were long and deep, pinning her to where she was.  She couldn’t even wrap her legs around him since neither one of them thought of getting her blasted pants and underwear off.  He was in total control of this and was doing an admirable job of completing the task.

“Nate,” she moaned into his ear.

“Shh,” he said as his thrusts came faster and faster.

His mouth devoured hers as he sped up, hand traveling down between them to give her that extra incentive. One touch sent her over, making him gasp as she did.  It took him a minute more to come, almost drawing another orgasm from her.  He must have noticed because his fingers didn’t stop until she climaxed again, this time with a little squeal of pleasure as she did.  She hoped that she hadn’t woken up Eliot.

“Shh,” he laughed against her throat as he collapsed against her finally.

“Oh dear, I cannot move now.”

“Ouch, my shoulder.”

“I knew you were hurting.  Get up, you oaf, so I can breathe.”

Nate rolled off of her, closing his eyes as he did.  Sophie righted her clothes and slipped out of the tiny room, leaving Nate to clean up afterwards.  Eliot hadn’t stirred and Parker was intently driving, with Hardison’s head leaning back against the headrest.  Good, so only Parker was awake and she certainly couldn’t hear them.  Quickly, she reopened the bedroom door to find Nate curled up, fast asleep, but at least he had the decency to zip his pants back up.

Working her way out of the room, she walked back to where Parker was driving.

“Need anything, Parker?”

“Soda.  Everyone else asleep?”

“Apparently.”

Sophie grabbed a soda from the frig along with a bubbly water for herself.  After opening Parker’s drink and sitting in between the seats, she watched as the scenery flew by, it lulling her into a sense of security to be surrounded by her family. 

She was never once worried in that store that they wouldn’t come for her.  Eliot had it under control.  It was Nate she was worried about though.  His emotions regarding her were showing more and more, becoming obvious to even the marks involved in the cons they pulled. They needed to be more careful, more calculated.  Maybe on this trip, with some downtime, she could talk with Nate to convince him that they could work on whatever it was they had in addition to making sure that neither one of them would blow a con just because of one heated look or if either one of them got into trouble.

“The boys are asleep and we’re doing all the heavy lifting,” Parker commented as she drove.

“Just like always.”

“You also got to christen the bedroom.”

Sophie hated it when Parker did that.  Parker never held anything back when she was thinking.  The bubbles in the drink immediately traveled up Sophie’s nose, making her gasp. 

“Oops, sorry to surprise you.  I kinda figured that the back bedroom would be yours. And Nate’s.  It’s OK, you know.”

“What’s OK?”

“To like him.  I see how you look at him.  It’s OK.  I’m just glad the two of you realized that there was actually something.”

So was Sophie, because beating around the bush with Nate took more energy than it was worth sometimes. 

“We don’t want to make it a thing, it’s just…”

“It’s just you’ve been totally in love with him for a decade.  Just go with the flow.  He’ll figure it out.  For one of the smartest men in the world, he can be so dense at times.”

“You’re telling me.”

Hardison snorted a bit in his sleep, but settled back down as he shifted in his seat.  Parker giggled as she watched him smile in his sleep. 

“And adorable too.”

Sophie snickered at that.  Their men certainly were interesting, to say the least.  And maddening, and just a bit crazy.  She and Parker would do anything and everything to see that they were all safe, possibly happy too.

“You and Hardison?”

“We’ll see.  He really is cute when he sleeps.”

Sophie could hear Eliot snore behind her.  He was exhausted from their last job, as were the other two men. 

“Do you want me to drive a bit now?”

“Nah.  I can do a few more hours.  I actually got to sleep in those air ducts while the rest of you were running around chasing bad guys on the last job.”

Sophie thought back to the last job they were on.  It was brutal, to say the least. 

“How you sleep in those I’ll never understand.”

“You grab sleep when you can.  Now _that_ you understand.  Go keep Nate company.  I got this.  I’ll wake Hardison up in about an hour.”

Parker punched up another radio station, this one playing upbeat music.

“Just be careful driving.  There are no seat belts on that bed.”

Parker snorted in laughter. 

“Yeah, well, we could make one.  How about some handcuffs to go with it?”

“Believe me, I really would love to use them on Nate at times.”

Parker snorted again, probably imagining it in her mind.  Sophie left the woman humming along with the latest tune, Hardison moving a bit, probably waking up as she made her way back to the tiny bedroom.  As she crawled into bed beside Nate, he pulled her to him, snuggling against her as he did.  For a man that didn’t display affection in public much, he sure did make up for it when they were alone.  He couldn’t keep his hands off of her most of the time.

As Sophie started to drift off to sleep, he tensed his arm that was around her.  Turning, she realized that he was probably dreaming.  Gasping, he startled awake, shooting up on the bed as he did.  Sophie couldn’t tell whether he was fully awake or not, but she pulled at his arm all the same, hoping that he didn’t lash out at her.

“Nate, Nate, it’s OK.”

Rubbing his hand over his face, he turned to look down at her.

“You’re here.  OK.  I thought you weren’t, here, I mean.”

“Come,” she gestured to him.

“That was rough, today I mean.  The last week too.  The last month.”

She pulled him to her, cradling his head against her front. He was still too tense, still wrapped up in what could have happened at that convenience store.  Gently rubbing his neck and back, he finally settled down, sighing as he did.

“I’m OK, you know.”

“I know.  Just a bad dream.”

The swaying of the motorhome lulled her to sleep, Nate wrapped around her like he would lose her if he let go.


	3. Unfortunately Hardison Is Worried

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hardison is always worried. What else is new? Parker and Hardison talk about being intimate.

Chapter Three—Unfortunately Hardison Is Worried

Hardison watched Parker drive the beast from hell.  He certainly wanted to take it for a drive, but after watching Eliot, then Parker drive it, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to handle it.  It was definitely more fun to watch Parker. He couldn’t do that while he was driving. 

Any way he looked at her, he could see how beautiful she was.  Even with her hair all crazy, no makeup, dressed down in sweats and a t-shirt, he knew she was the most beautiful creature he had ever encountered.  She wanted to take everything slow, so he did.  There was only so long he could wait though.  Not like he’d go out and find someone else.  He’d never do that.  If he backed off, then he felt he’d lose her for sure.  Maybe this trip would help the two of them realize that they didn’t necessarily have all the time in the world. 

“Hey, sleepy head.  Get a nice nap?”

Parker had realized that he indeed was awake.  Picking up his phone, he found the time and realized that he’d been napping for over two hours.  Power naps were his thing, not two and a half hour sleepfests. 

“How’s it going?”

“It’s quiet.  Too quiet.”

“You better not have just jinxed us, mama.  Eliot looks to be out for hours.  I do not want to be the one who wakes him up.  I have the scars to prove you do not wake a sleeping bear.”

“Oh, it was just one punch.”

“One punch that definitely hurt. So where are we?”

“Just outside of Scranton.  We have to make Youngstown in nine hours.  That little detour we took saving people’s lives put our schedule off by almost an hour.  Don’t tell Eliot that I’ve already shaved off at least twenty minutes.”

That was his girl.  Always breaking the rules, even if it meant the wrath of Eliot the task master.  He certainly wouldn’t break the rules like that.  Parker could get away with it though, while he would get punched.  Well, punched lightly on the shoulder.  Eliot would never do that to Parker.

Parker grinned his way.  He cherished the moments where Parker was unguarded, genuinely happy.  That hadn’t happened as much lately, particularly since he’d been almost buried alive.  He was actually buried in a coffin, but not that deep and for not that long.  That one incident had pushed Parker along, toward him just a little bit more.  He didn’t want to be buried in a coffin like that ever again, but hey, it did get results.  If he had to take a few bad nightmares along with it, Parker would be there to at least hold his hand.  She’d taken to doing that now, instead of just punching him on the shoulder.  The way she showed affection was a bit strange, but so what.

He made the action of zipping his lips so that Parker knew he’d not tell.  Eliot wasn’t stupid though and would do the calculations in his head easily enough.  And he thought that Nate was anal about shit.  Eliot was worse.  Nate just wanted results, no matter how it happened.  Eliot wanted to know how, when, where, who, and what they did to get there.  He’d take Nate’s way every single time.  Task master was on point always. 

“Want me to take over?”

“Nah.  I still have a few hours until we get to the campground.  I thought that Sophie wanted to, but she’s in the back with Nate, so who knows when they’ll come out.”

“Yeah, I’m just glad there’s a door.”

“Hey, what’s the beef you have with them?  People do stuff with their significant others.”

“It’s the do stuff that I do not want to know about, if you know what I mean?”

“Alec, they love each other.”

Hardison couldn’t believe how Parker was talking, like it was all marshmallows and bunnies.  He’d never call Parker exactly soft and gushy.  Did their so-called almost relationship start to turn her soft?  Could he actually say that she was a romantic at heart?

“It’s just zero to sixty with the two of them. They’re either fighting, ready to throw down, or one of them is giving the other the eye and they disappear for the afternoon.  You haven’t been there at Nate’s place when that’s happened, now have you?”

“Listen, if we’re gonna do this thing, whatever it is, let’s just get one thing straight.  It’s OK to like the other person.  Kissing is OK. Holding hands is OK.  Other things are gonna be OK.”

“Other things?”

And there she said it.  Did she just ask him if he wanted to have sex with her?  He most certainly did, but only if she did.  He just thought it was light years down the road.  Not that he wanted to wait a dozen years like Nate and Sophie did, but hey, he’d definitely wait until she felt she was ready.

“It’s not like you’re gonna take me over the dining room table or something.”

“Dining room table?  What, where did you get that idea?  No, just no.  Are you telling me, just wait a damn minute?  The table where we eat?  Do they have no scruples?”

Parker snorted a little laugh at his response.

“I’mma gonna have to burn the dining room set when we get back. That’s just nasty.”

“See, there you go again.  It’s not nasty.”

As Parker had the most serene look on her face at that moment, he realized that he must love her.  Now he’d do just about anything for her.

“Well, not unless you’re Nate and Sophie.  Then it is nasty.  Gotta get a name of a cleaning crew or something.  No, can’t have just anybody in there.  Hey, I know…”

Parker put up her hand for him to stop.

“Neither one of them have many inhibitions.  And you do. That’s what I love about you.  It makes you be you.  Besides, it’ll be fun once you figure out it’s fun with me.  It won’t matter.”

If Hardison could blush, he would at that point.  This was the most open that Parker had been with him, ever. He didn’t want to break that spell. He thought about possibly opening a window to cool off, but that would wake up Eliot.  He did not want Eliot to see the state he was in at the moment.

“Are you telling me that if I get you naked next to that dining room table, then we’d, you know?”

Parker laughed as he said it.  He could not believe he’d actually said the words that had just come out of his mouth.  Parker wanted to have sex with him and didn’t think it was nasty at all.

“Since it’s Nate’s place, that might make it a little awkward.  Otherwise, it would be fun.”

“Well, I mean, we each do have our own places and all.  I’ve always, you know, wanted to see you in that harness, not repelling, just, you know.”

Parker laughed again, face turning pink now.  He got her to blush. 

“Oh god, you two are noisy as fuck.  Just be quiet.”

Eliot had actually slept for more than ninety minutes.  Three hours to be precise.

“Go back to sleep.  We got this.”

“Where are we, exactly?” Eliot asked as he settled back down again.

“Outside of Bloomsburg.”

“Better not be speeding,” he mumbled as he fell back to sleep.

The two fell into silence as the sun started to set.

“Maybe we can, um, spend some quiet time together tonight.”

“Too late.”

Parker looked so relaxed driving such a large machine.

“Too late for what?”

“They’ve already christened the bedroom, too late?”

“When we bought this thing, I put it in my name for a reason.  Brand new, people.  Brand, spankin’ new.  Don’t tell me that’s what they’ve been doing all this time too?”

“Well, I did suggest handcuffs.”

“Oh lordy.”


	4. Parker's Panicking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker wants to be in control.

Chapter Four—Parker’s Panicking

Hardison had made Parker feel all tingly, but there was nothing she could do about it while driving a motorhome going 65 miles an hour.  They’d actually had a conversation, a good conversation about where their relationship was headed.  Good for them.

She didn’t want to panic, but it was there, under the surface.  She wanted everything to work out between the two of them.  Knowing that it would work out and working out were two different things.  Parker definitely couldn’t see the future.  She kind of wished she could.  Hurting Alec was something she’d never do, or be able to handle if she did.

He sat next to her, smiling that knowing smile that he got when something that he planned was coming together.  It was like when he used computers to plot something, to pull off a job that no one else could, even Nate. 

Glancing back, she noticed the door to the bedroom open, Nate all bleary eyed, Sophie nowhere to be seen.  They both had operated on almost no sleep from the last job, heads always together as they plotted the downfall of a CEO who had a nasty streak of hurting his underlings.  She wouldn’t tell Sophie that she had bags under her eyes, but it was the truth.  They’d all had a rough time of it lately, hence the job very far away from the confines of a boardroom.  Nate jumped at the chance of actually breathing fresh air.  Parker actually jumped at the chance of being free from the confines of an air duct.  Too many air ducts, too many safes, too many chances to get caught doing the things she thought she loved doing.

Parker hadn’t told anyone she was feeling the effects of too many jobs clustered together.  They all knew her skillset, had used it to their advantage, not once asking her if it was taking a toll on her psyche.  Usually, it didn’t make her feel like this.  She loved climbing up buildings, stealing things, taking down bad guys.  Only lines were getting blurrier, with the bad guys not exactly as bad as they once thought, good guys getting hurt more than necessary, and the team getting hurt and stressed that they were all playing god as they went along.  At some point, it could all come crashing down on their heads.

In between Blackpoole, Moreau, and other really oily characters, Parker figured that they’d rid the world of the worst. Only they kept coming out of the woodwork.  Every time Nate would garner them a client, she thought that maybe they’d made some kind of difference.  But the clients kept coming, the bad guys kept thinking they were invincible, and their jobs seemed to be getting harder and harder.

As she looked in the rear view mirror, she noticed Nate take a drink of the beer he had in his hands.  If that wasn’t a sign that things weren’t exactly well, then nothing was.  She wished he’d stop, like he did before Sophie had left them.  Parker had seen way too many people be controlled by an addiction and it wasn’t pretty.  She knew what she’d signed up for though, had seen how Nate was that very first time, and still wanted in.  She’d seen how Eliot acted, as he wanted to protect them from all the bad, but realizing that his history was as dirty as they came.  Even though she knew very little of Sophie’s past, she knew that Sophie had so many secrets, that even Hardison would have a difficult time finding them all.  And Hardison?  He seemed to have no secrets, no dirty laundry, no addictions.  His one issue was sometimes he was too naïve.  She guessed if that was the worst thing he exhibited, then she definitely could deal with that.

And herself?  She guessed her secrets, her dirty laundry, would stay buried.  Sure, they all knew a little about her past, her issues about being in the system when she was young.  But they didn’t know the half of it and that’s where it would stay, in the past.

She’d only look to the future, hopefully a future with Alec at her side.  He was a good person, she thought.  Did she deserve that good a person?  Only time would tell. 

“So, we stoppin’ for the night?”

“That’s what Eliot said.  Campground right off the interstate.  We park, we sleep, we eat, then we drive, not in any particular order.”

“Don’t know why we can’t just keep driving?”

Parker wondered that too, but on this one, Eliot was in charge.

 


	5. Nate Was Definitely Panicking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too many things were changing for Nate to keep up.

Chapter Five—Nate Was Definitely Panicking

Eliot was in charge?  Not likely, Nate thought.  Sure, he’d given the younger man the lead on this one, just because Eliot was doing a favor for an old friend.  It was a mistake, dealing with people from the past.  Eliot had done it once before, with Aimee and her father.  It hadn’t been a mistake helping them out with the horses, but it surely brought up Eliot’s past to the forefront, and in the end, his too. Sterling and his feud had come up, but it all worked out.  That put them on Sterling’s radar, not what he was hoping would happen.

They’d all taken cases that involved someone from their pasts:  Nate and Father Paul, Parker and Archie, Eliot and Aimee, Sophie and Starke, Hardison and Chaos.  Whether they were friend or foe, the past eventually caught up with each and every one of them. It’s how they each dealt with it that told the story. 

The last job, the last con they’d dealt with though was gut-wrenching.  Nate knew in the back of his mind that it might be rough, but this was worse.  They each had to deal with issues of their pasts: Nate and the young child that had been hurt, Eliot and the woman who threw herself at him while he was trying to save her, Sophie and the violence that had almost happened against her.  Hardison had to watch it all, manage it all, warn them when it all started to crumble. Parker was the only one that was out of harm’s way on this one.  That was just pure luck on her part.  The child had been soothed, the woman turned down, the CEO put in jail.  It had hurt to watch it all unfold.

Putting Sophie in danger had always bothered him, but this time he had misjudged it to the nth degree. She had never said to him that he had gone too far on this one, but there were other jobs where she had voiced her opinion.  It usually dealt with other members of the team, never her.  She protected the others, sometimes from him, many times from the mark.  But who looked out for her?  Eliot?  His job was all encompassing, protecting the group as a whole.  Hardison?  He was sometimes buried so deep in information, he missed the obvious dangers.  Parker?  She still didn’t get the nuances, although her sense of danger often saved them.  It was his job to make sure it all ran smoothly, to get them out when it didn’t, to save them at the last moment.  It was his job to protect Sophie, even if it was from himself.

It had become clear in his mind that he was compromised and he didn’t know what to do about it.  His team, his family, meant more to him than anything in the world.  Every time he sent them out into the world to wreak havoc on a bad guy, it put them in danger.  He wondered how much longer he could do it, especially since his relationship with Sophie had moved to a different level than he had ever anticipated.  Sure, she said it was casual.  That was the word she used.  There was nothing casual about it.  And from the last con, it definitely was starting to cause issues.

He smiled as he watched Parker reach over and punch Hardison on the shoulder.  Their relationship was now moving along too, so what happened when one of them was in danger?  Hardison was already the most emotional one of the group.  Would he blow a job if Parker was compromised? 

Nate had never envisioned four years ago that they’d get this close, be in each other’s personal business to the point of knowing, just knowing, what the others were thinking.  It scared him, but it made him happy too.  They were all so much alike, but so much different from each other.  He could predict exactly what each other was thinking at that moment.  Could the others? 

Parker was musing about the trip and how much she actually liked Hardison.  By Hardison’s actions, holding her hand in his, he was thinking about the fact that Parker actually liked him.  Eliot, who looked to be asleep, was always thinking about how much trouble they all seemed to get in, but how much he’d not change a thing about it.  Sophie was possibly thinking about what had just happened between the two of them and doing more of it.  Nate was just thinking about how to deaden the pain from this last job, if just for a while.  Whether it was the bottle he held or in Sophie’s arms, he’d take either one, although he had started to prefer Sophie more and more.  The bottle sometimes could wait.

They’d been in the motorhome for over seven hours now. None of them had yelled, gone after another, or made the others’ lives challenging.  They had several days to go before reaching Oklahoma.  Who knew what might happen?  Hopefully no more robberies, no more breaking the law.


	6. Eliot Jinxed Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never let Parker play with fire. Ever.

Chapter Six—Eliot Jinxed Them

“What is this?  Bad luck?”

Eliot sighed.  He knew they had to stay out of trouble.  Only it seemed on this trip, they were trouble magnets.  And it definitely wasn’t Nate or Parker’s fault.  Parker had been driving, but he had woken up just before their arrival at the RV park he had made reservations with a few days before.

“Seriously?” Nate lamented as they watched the scene unfold before them.

“I think we jinxed or somethin’,” Hardison added.

“And now you say it and it’ll be true, Hardison,” Sophie scoffed, slapping Hardison on the shoulder.

People were arguing with each other, looking for answers as they all roamed around the office at the RV park.  The management had locked themselves in their office, not coming out.  All the electricity that was supposed to flow to each RV was cut off.  Sure, one could operate an RV without the power to hook up, but that’s not what they paid for.

“I mean, we could just keep going,” Parker told the others.

“They’re extorting people to pay more for something they’ve already paid for,” Eliot warned.

“We just, do we have to get involved?  This is not our fight.”

The five of them looked around at the menagerie of owners of RVs in the place, from people with RVs that were tricked out with all the bells and whistles to the ones that probably lived in their RVs year round, to the ones that looked sort of desperate to have the power back on.

“Nate, it’s not right.  Let’s just see what we can do.”

Nate growled a bit, but shook his head yes.

“Hey, we got our badges.  We could flash them and see if that had any effect,” Parker said as they joined in a huddle near the door.

“I don’t think that would work in this instance.  Let’s gather some intel and see what the real story is.  Give it ten minutes. By the looks of some of these people, we don’t want to have the power off for very long.”

Eliot could see a few of the occupants were almost pleading for the power to be turned back on.  He pulled one of these couples aside, just so he could get their side of the story.

“So what’s up with this?  I paid in full,” he asked the older couple.

“He’s done this before, criminal.  Extorting more cash from us to keep the lights on.  Sure, our rig can go without electricity for a day or so, but after that, it won’t work.”

“I told you we needed to have that fixed,” his wife added.

“With what money?  We have just enough money to pay this bastard and not starve.  If he starts this again, then there’s no way we can pay for the medicine.”

Great, Eliot thought.  Just great.  As the others gathered back ten minutes later, they each had a similar story, at least from the regulars.  A few of the owners had trickled out, started their engines and were off into the night.  Those were the ones that could afford to absorb the loss of one night’s rental on a spot.  Many of the ones that lingered could not.

“We could just go in there and break some legs.  How about it, Eliot?  Leg breaking?” Parker always wanted for Eliot to use violence when she couldn’t think of another avenue.  Nate always pulled her back.

“Might work in this instance,” Nates surmised.

“Just, we are not going in and breaking anyone’s leg, Parker.  Or Nate.  He’s pulled this before.  Many of these people don’t have the money to move on to another RV park.”

“I’m calling the police,” the owner yelled out the door.

“Probably means he has the locals in his pocket.”

Hardison was tapping away at his smart phone, pulling up information from somewhere.  Eliot was always amazed what the man could do with a piece of technology at his fingers.

“Yeah, you’re right about that one.  Donations to every local campaign of every official.  This goes deep, folks.”

“We don’t have time for this.”

Nate was correct.  They really didn’t have time for any of this, only this is what they did.  They helped people.

“How about sending your IRS after him?  I’m sure that having a business like this is very lucrative.  What can you scam up at a minute’s notice?” Sophie asked Hardison.

“What? You think I can make miracles just happen?  This takes work, long hours.  Oh, here it is.  I can make this work.  Let me see.  Now he has no money.  All transferred to an offshore account.  His accountant is now getting an email regarding this, with me flagging the IRS as we speak.”

Hardison grinned his shit-eating grin.  It was just as bad as Nate’s gloating.

“We need power, tonight.  All these other people need power right now,” Nate pointed out.

“So, we go in and tell him that if he doesn’t turn the power back on, then Hardison will release the hounds.  Isn’t that the right metaphor, Hardison?  Release the hounds,” Sophie smiled his way.

“Yeah, but we could also get into lots of trouble.”

“Leave it to me,” Nate said as he walked to the office.

Twenty minutes later, the lights were on and everyone was happy, except for the RV park owner.

“I don’t even want to know what you told him. No, maybe I do.  Was it the Las Vegas shuffle?  The Kline maneuver?”

“Nah.  I told him that if he didn’t turn the electricity back on, I would break his legs.”

Eliot glowered at Nate, hoping that the owner didn’t call law enforcement on them.

“Then we made a deal.  He saw my way of thinking.  A few calls to the right people and all is well.  Seems he has some Boston connections.”

“How on earth did you know?”

Nate pointed to the sign spelling out the owner’s name.  “I took a guess.  McTeague? Not exactly a common name.  Called in a few favors.”

“You got lucky,” Sophie added as she took his arm in hers.

“Yep. Pretty much.”

Sometimes Nate astounded Eliot.  One of these days though, Nate’s luck would run out. 

When they got back to the RV, Parker was building a fire in the fire ring outside.  By the looks of it, she’d built a very large one.

“We are so gonna do s’mores.”

They hadn’t even had dinner yet, and Parker wanted sugar.  Eliot wanted real food, not a gooey mess.  Before he could say anything, someone arrived with the chocolate, the marshmallows, the graham crackers and a pizza.  It was a thank you for getting the electricity flowing again.  It was junk food, but it was food.

As the five of them waved goodbye to their fellow RVers, Parker bounced up and down at the prospect of playing with fire.

“Parker, pizza first,” Eliot said as he placed it down on the table beside the RV.

“Beer first,” Nate mumbled as he pulled one out of the RV, remembering to hand one to Eliot too.

“To not running into any more trouble,” Eliot said as he clinked bottles with Nate.

“You really need to quit jinxing us, Eliot.  Really?” Hardison said as he took a slice of pizza.

The fire almost exploded as Parker lit it from underneath. 

“And this is why Parker is never in charge of explosives of any kind,” Nate pointed out as he drained his beer in record time.


	7. How Sophie Views Her Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie and Parker bond.

Chapter Seven—How Sophie Views Her Men

“Ok, so sleeping arrangements.”

Of course Eliot would have to bring up that they all actually had to sleep in the same place, with thin walls between the five of them.  Sure, they’d slept in the same room before, usually exhausted and not caring.  Sophie surmised though that Eliot would either make a big deal out of separating the boys and the girls or wouldn’t give a damn, just wanting to sleep.

They all looked at each other, like someone would speak up.

“I bought the damn thing, with my money.  I get first dibs tonight.  Then we draw straws the next night or rotate or whatever.”

They each shook their heads in agreement, even Nate.  That kind of shocked Sophie, but she wasn’t going to voice her opinion.

“I’m sleeping under the stars.  Got my bag, my mat. I’m good.”

“What?”

“Eliot, no.”

“That’s not comfortable.”

“Guys, guys. It’s what I do.  I do not want to listen to Hardison snore or Parker talk in her sleep or whatever else someone might do in the middle of the night.  You four are the noisiest sleepers on the planet. At least outside I have the stars and the crickets.”

“Yuck, bugs,” Sophie shook her head.

“Don’t knock it until you try it.”

“One time I did try it.  Not that I wanted to, but I didn’t have much choice.”

They all turned to Sophie, wondering what the story was.

“Long, involved story about this cowboy I met from Texas.  What a bust that was.”

“Cowboy?” Nate asked.

“Really,” Eliot put in his two cents.

“Well, this one certainly thought he was one.  I think he just had too much money and too much time on his hands.  It took me a month to get my nails fixed.”

“Oh boy,” Parker said, grabbing her duffel to dig through it.  “I’m getting ready for bed.  Since we can’t use the bathroom.”

“Yeah, you can now.  It’s hooked up now.  Just be discreet.”

Parker waved him off though and trudged out the door.  Sophie decided she might as well join Parker and grabbed her things too.  Catching up with her, they walked side by side until making it to the bathroom.

Sophie hated it that there might be someone that would see her without makeup. Only the team did on occasion.  That never bothered her.  They’d seen her at her worst.  It could get worse, she figured.  At least there was hot water, although the showers were a bit strange, she managed to figure them out.  Once she was done, she joined Parker at the sinks to finish her preparations for the night.

“Do you think Eliot is mad at us?” Parker asked as she washed her face.

“Mad?  About what?  The job is done.  We’re off to Oklahoma.  What could he be mad about?”

“Fifth wheel.”

“Oh.  Oh, you’re right.  He’s never made a big deal about it.”

“That’s because it’s never been a big deal until lately.”

Parker splashed her face, finishing up. It took Sophie a few more minutes, but all the makeup was now gone.  As Sophie looked in the mirror, she saw just how different the two of them were.  Sure, Parker wore makeup all the time now, but it wasn’t like it was with Sophie.  The two of them were stripped down, bare of all the armor that they wore during the day.  Their guys never had to do that, look a certain way, use makeup to be a different person, unless it was for a con. 

Parker smiled to her in the mirror.  “You look just as good without the makeup on.  Me on the other hand?  I look washed out.”

“Parker, you are absolutely stunning.  Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Has anyone ever told you you’re beautiful? I mean, no one’s ever said that to me.  Sure, sexy, and all that stuff.”

Sophie was stunned. No one in her life had ever told her that she was beautiful.  That was a shame because from where she was standing, Parker was one of the most beautiful people she’d ever met.

“You are, hands down, one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, Parker.  Men are assholes.  They’re always thinking with their…”

Parker put her hand over Sophie’s mouth as a little girl entered to go to the bathroom.  Both of them giggled until the girl left.

“Oops.  My salty language could get us into trouble.”

“Hardison’s beautiful,” Parker pronounced.

“Indeed, he is.  Just don’t tell him that he is.  He tends to go off on these types of things.  Wait until the most opportune moment.  Don’t have Eliot around either.  Ruin the moment for him and for you.”

Parker giggled again at Sophie’s statement. 

“Eliot’s definitely not beautiful.  He’s, he’s, grr, I don’t even know the word for it.”

“Ruggedly handsome.”

“Yeah, that’s it.  Don’t tell him though.”

“Same goes for him.  Tell him that, with Hardison around, and he’d never hear the end of it. Don’t have him get all growly.  That just does something to a woman. No wonder he has no issues with the ladies.”

“What about Nate?” Parker asked.

Now the woman put Sophie on the spot.  She’d known him for so very long, when he was young and carefree, face unlined, eyes sparkling, hair dark and not as crazy as it seemed to be now. 

“What about him?” Sophie said, stalling.

“Hardison is beautiful, Eliot is ruggedly handsome.  What about Nate?”

Oh dear, Sophie thought.  Could she describe their mastermind in one or two words?

“I started calling him darling around ten years ago.  That did not sit well.”

“That is a term of endearment.  Not descriptive at all.  Come on, share.”

Sophie started to gather her things, hoping that the thief would forget about their little game.  She really didn’t want to reveal all her thoughts on Nate.

“You ought to have seen him when we met.  He was utterly gorgeous.”

“What?  He’s a guy.  Not a word I’d use.”

“Dear, with those eyes, dark hair, that intense stare.  Knocked me right off my feet, almost literally.  He was mesmerizing.  Sure, I’d met men who were more beautiful than Hardison could ever be.  He tried to steal my drink.  As I reached for it, so did he.  The electricity that traveled between the two of us was pure magic.  He smirked back at me.  I was hooked, even though he chased after me.  It’s not all about the perfect body.”

“I know,” Parker said as they both exited the bathroom, wet hair and all.

“What I would have done to strip him bare back then. I almost did once or twice.”

“TMI.”

“Well, you asked.  Sure, he’s a little older, a little more sadistic, gained a bit more weight.”

“He’s not fat.”

“He’s certainly not skinny.  I remember many times attempting to feed him just so he wouldn’t blow away with the wind.  The man’s never taken the time to actually eat a decent meal.  Thank god for Eliot.”

“You worry about him?”

“Every single day.  You see Hardison smile at you and you melt.  I’ve seen it.  Nate just stares at me and I’m a puddle.  Sometimes when he’s talking in the comm, I have to take mine out.”

Parker sped up her walk, leaving Sophie behind a bit.

“I think Hardison and I need some privacy,” Parker said as Sophie finally caught up with her at their campsite.

They both burst out laughing, trying not to wake Eliot on the ground before them.

“We need to find him someone,” Parker whispered as she took Hardison’s hand in hers as he came out the door.

“Shh, trying to sleep here,” Eliot mumbled.

“Sorry.”

“Night.  Sleep tight.  Don’t let all those bugs bite,” Parker added.

Instead of Parker and Hardison leaving the motorhome, Sophie pulled on Nate’s hand instead, hoping that Parker got to actually talk to the hacker, instead of just smiling at him, which she was doing now.


	8. Parker Makes Her Move on Hardison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker is very eager.

Chapter Eight—Parker Makes Her Move on Hardison

“Did you just throw Nate and Sophie out of the motorhome?” Hardison asked as he sat at the dinette.

“Well, yeah, sort of.  I just got to thinking and thought that maybe we could spend some time together.  Just you and me.”

Hardison’s eyes bugged out a bit as he watched Parker come closer.

“So, um, you, um, me, in the um same room,” his voice squeaked.

Smooth move, he realized, but Parker didn’t seem to care. 

“We’re in the same room all the time, Alec.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.  You see, are you sure, because hey, we can be sure, of you know.”

“You babble too much.”

Yeah, he did tend to babble when it came to women.  Parker definitely wasn’t his first girl, but it wasn’t like he had all these women to compare her to.  Living the life of a geek made his love life sometimes difficult.  And the fact that he was a criminal, which made it even more so.

“Yep.  You’re right about that.”

Pulling her to him, he hugged her middle, large hands gentle as he rubbed her back.

“Hardison, if you don’t want to, it’s OK.”

Oh, oh, and there she went, thinking she knew exactly what he was feeling. 

“You just, wait one minute.  I’m worried is all.  We, this changes everything.  And I mean everything.  Come on.  What happens if we break up?  Or fight?  Or whatever?”

“If we do, we do.”

“We, you’re my family, dammit.”

“And always will be.”

He sighed into her stomach, attempting to figure out if he wanted to go to the next step.  She couldn’t wait on him forever.

“I can wait.  Although, from what Sophie said, she’s wanted to kill Nate more times than she has fingers and toes for waiting.  And you have no excuses like marriage or that annoying religious stuff and dammit Hardison, we talked about stuff and now I’m horny.”

“What?”

Pushing him back against the dinette, she held his shoulders in her small hands.

“I. Am. Horny. Got it?”

“Oh yeah.  Got it.  Bedroom?”

“Probably.  Because if the two of them come back, I don’t think that would be good.”

“Did you just send Sophie away because of a booty call?  Because if you did, girlfriend, then let’s go.”

Both raced to the bedroom, flinging the door shut.

“It doesn’t bother you that they had sex in here, does it?” Parker said as she climbed on top of Hardison.

“OK, no more mentioning what our teammates do in their off time, K?  Mood killer.”

The way Parker was grinding against him, he didn’t think much could kill the mood now.

“We need to be quiet though.  Eliot?”

“Is outside,” Parker whispered in his ear, blowing as she did.  It sent shivers down his spine, making him arch up into her.

Flipping her over, the motorhome shook a bit as he did this.

“And no really sudden movements,” he said as his lips moved to her neck.

“Yeah.”

Then they both lost it.  Parker was a very active participant, so Hardison had to grab her hands to make sure she didn’t make him finish before they even started. She wanted to touch him, everywhere.

“Slow down,” he got out as she pulled his clothes off of him.

“Now.”

“Good grief, woman.”

Pinning her to the mattress, he finally managed to get the rest of her clothes off (not like he hadn’t seen most of it before).  He almost didn’t get the condom rolled on before she grabbed him and thrust up, burying him inside her.

“Finally.”

Every time she moved, he didn’t and vice versa.  And if she didn’t keep squeezing every damn muscle she had, he’d go off like a rocket and leave her wanting.

Having the weight advantage was a plus in this situation, because he fell completely on top of her, if just to slow her down so he could catch up, or not go over the edge too soon.  Placing his forehead against hers, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

“Parker, if you don’t slow down, I am not gonna last.”

“Neither am I.  Get on with it,” she said impatiently.

Nuzzling her neck, he felt her breathing settle a bit before he slowly pulled out and thrust up into her.  She attempted to take control again, but he managed with his hands to tell her what he wanted.  It only took a few more thrusts before he could feel her tighten around him. Arching her back, she dug her nails into his shoulders, shuddering around him. Thank goodness she wasn’t a screamer.  One or two more times, and he was gone.

Breathing heavily, he tried to lift his substantial weight off her front, but she grabbed him and pulled him against her, not moving.

“See, told ya I was horny.  Let’s do it again.”

Leaning up on his elbows, he looked down at her face to see if she was serious.  And by the look she was giving him, she was.

“Can you give me just a little bit of time?  Just a little.”

Parker laughed.  “Big baby.  Sure.  We can do other things.”

“Oh dear, I’ve created a monster,” he managed to get out as Parker flipped him back over.


	9. Nate Says the Unthinkable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate says something he cannot take back.

Chapter Nine—Nate Says the Unthinkable

“And we’re walking.  In the dark.”

“Nice, fresh air.  Beautiful sky.  What’s not to like?”

The stars were starting to appear in the night sky.  Without the light pollution of the urban city, you could see so much that you couldn’t see on a rooftop. Nate had always hoped that he could have shared this with his son more.  The only time they’d actually gone camping, the stars were only visible for one night.  The rest of the time it was either cloudy or raining. 

“You’re right.  What’s not to like?” he said as he took her hand in his. 

Wandering down to the dock by the lake next to the campground, they both stared off into the distance.  It was almost completely pitch black now, no lights off in the distance across the water.  He could hear a few kids shouting, a few people answering back.  Crickets chirped, and there must have been some frogs croaking too off in the distance.

Sophie slowly put her hand around his waist and leaned her head against his shoulder.  Their public displays of affection he could count on two hands at the most.  He was not one to show the world what he was thinking, or feeling.  It was even difficult to show Sophie what he was feeling, except when it came to going to bed with her.  Then he could show her, with his actions, how he felt.  He wondered if she felt the same way, but didn’t ask her.

“Does your mind ever shut off completely?”

“No.”

“Figures.  Penny for your thoughts.”

“Oh, just um, thinking about the next job.”

Great, so now she’d figure out he was lying.  She knew exactly when he was.  Just one of those damn traits as a grifter that she had picked up.

“Among other things.  Are you worried about Hardison and Parker?”

“Um, no. Not really.  Well, now that you mention it, should I be?”

“Possibly.  We had a talk.”

“Hence the walking in the dark.”

“They needed some time alone.  We needed some time…”

“To think.”

Oops, now that didn’t come out the way he had wanted.  Although his eyes had adjusted to how dark it was, he couldn’t see her dark eyes as she turned to look into his.

“Think about?”

“Stuff.”

And so it goes, he thought.  Putting his foot in his mouth again.

“Does that stuff, as you call it, involve me?”

“Possibly?”

“Is that an answer or are you being cagey on purpose?”

“I’m never cagey.”

He smirked, hoping that she would drop the subject and they could spend a quiet moment together.

“Never cagey?  Do you even realize what you’ve just said?  You practically invented the word.”

“Really?  Coming from you?”

Sometimes their words came out so fast, that Nate didn’t have time to think.  It was always a game with them, the flirting, the pushing, the pulling, the wanting, and eventually, the taking. 

“So maybe I should be worried about Hardison and Parker?”

Sophie sighed next to him, exasperated at his denseness.  It was all his doing, the way he really didn’t want to talk about the feelings of a relationship.  And now his teammates were trying the same thing?

“So, what did you tell her?”

“Tell her?  Parker does what she wants.  I just hope they don’t break up.  It won’t be pleasant if it happens.  Hardison is so emotional sometimes.”

“So is Parker.”

“Emotional?  Are we talking about the same woman?”

Nate moved to push a strand of hair behind Sophie’s ear as he peered closer at her.

“She can be.  It’s just sometimes she doesn’t know what to feel.  Or how to display it.  Make her voice heard.  She wonders if she’s making the right choices, doesn’t want to hurt the ones around her.”

Since he was speaking in metaphors, he hoped that Sophie didn’t jump to conclusions.

“I can understand that.  Hardison wants to make sure that he protects her, makes her feel cherished.  The fact that he loves her matters the most.  The fact that she cannot possibly say it back, or won’t, doesn’t matter.”

Even though he couldn’t see Sophie’s eyes, he could feel them bore into him, black as night, as he reached for her.  Were they still talking about Parker and Hardison?  He’d lost his train of thought getting drawn in by Sophie.

“Don’t underestimate Parker.  She feels, deeply. Give her time, not too much mind you.  She might just surprise you.”

When they were playing their game, chasing and running all over the world, neither one could be this close to telling the other how they felt.  Many times Nate just wanted to say fuck it and say what he was feeling.  Even that first year they worked together, he thought he could work up the courage, even after she said that she couldn’t wait that much longer.  Something always stopped him though.  It wasn’t something that he could explain.  Only when he’d had the time, away from the team after Blackpoole went down, did he figure out how much he wanted her.  And she pushed him away.  Now she wasn’t pushing him away, he wasn’t trying to pull her to him.  There was finally some equilibrium between the two of them that never would have happened ten years ago, when they were in the middle of the chase.

“She already has,” Sophie said as she pulled him those last few inches, hands around his neck, urging him to touch lips.

“Making out on the dock, stars in the sky. Almost like summer camp,” Nate got out as he came up for air.

“Don’t tell me this is how you spent your youth?”

“Camp, Sophie.  Lots of young, nubile girls for a super skinny, dorky guy from Boston.  I had them eating out of my hand.”

“How old were you?” she said as her lips touched his neck lightly.

“Twelve or thirteen, I think.  My first, real kiss too.”

“Practice makes perfect.”

Pulling her in for another, he finally came up for air.

“What was she?  The camp vixen?  Twelve years old and already built?”

“Nah.  Just a girl.  She smelled good though.  That I do remember.  Like cherries.  Probably was because of all the lip gloss she used.  I never thought of cherries the same way after that.”

“You Americans and your first times.”

Nuzzling her neck, Nate’s hands wandered to grip her backside.  “As you said, practice makes perfect.”

“You are so lucky that it’s really dark out here, darling.”

“Why?” he asked as his hand found the skin on her back.

“We have company.”

“Oh. Let’s go.”

“Of course.”

Luckily for him, Sophie had seen the flashlight off in the distance headed toward them. After saying hello to their interrupters on their way up the path back to the campground, he took her hand in his and squeezed. 

“What about your first kiss?” he wondered out loud.  She was never much on sharing her past.

“It was quite awful.  All tongue, no finesse.  I think I cracked his rib when I pushed him away and he fell down.  It wasn’t until later on, a few years later, that I realized that yes, kissing could be fun.”

“Oh, and is, um, you know, kissing fun with me?” he mumbled out.

Pulling him over behind the pool house, she grabbed his shirt and dove in.  So that was a probably.

“Practice makes perfect.  So glad you figured out what to do with your tongue,” she said as she pulled him down again, hands fisted in his hair.

Sophie’s hand roamed a little.  “We can’t go back to the motorhome, can we?”

“Might want to give it some time,” she said as she grabbed his hand in hers, pushing the door to the pool house open.

“Don’t want to think about what they’re doing,” he whispered in her ear, pulling her into a dark corner.

“Probably the same as what we’re doing.”

Indeed it probably was as Nate hooked his hand in her pants and underwear and pulled them down. 

“Do not trap my legs again, you sadistic son of a bitch.”

“Yes, dear.”

How long would it take for Sophie to figure out how deeply he felt for her?  If he only showed her with his actions now, it wouldn’t last.  Sure, the sex was amazing, inventive and extremely satisfying, but if he didn’t figure out how to tell her that he loved her with everything he had, she might just bolt sooner than later.

Pushing her back against the wall, he pulled her leg around, filling her completely as he did.  He was really getting too old for this, but he wasn’t willing to tell Sophie that what he really preferred was a nice, soft bed and all day to just be with her.  If he gave up these trysts, gave up being inventive, would she still stick around?

“Nate,” she moaned into his ear.

“Sophie,” he said as he moved inside her.

“Practice makes perfect.”

As she tightened around him for the second time that day, he buried his face in her hair, moving frantically to the finish.

“God, Sophie.  I love you,” burst forth before he could stop what he was saying.

Her hands tightened in his hair almost to the point of hurting as they both came down from what had just occurred between them.

“What did you say?” she breathed out.

“I, um, I just.  Maybe we should get dressed.  Before someone walks in.”

He could see her hands shaking as he handed her the pants and underwear that he had just ripped off of her mere minutes before.  Neither one looked at the other as they got dressed.

“I’m going to the ladies room.  Meet you back at the motorhome,” she announced as she opened the door to the pool house.

“Yeah.”

Dammit, dammit, dammit.  What in hell was he thinking?  He wasn’t.  And now he probably ruined everything.


	10. Parker Starts to Think Too Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker doesn't want to mess anything up.

Chapter Ten—Parker Starts to Think Too Much

And now she probably ruined everything, Parker thought, lying across Hardison, spent, completely spent.  She was only thinking of herself, her needs. 

“Whoa.”

See, there it goes.  This is just how it happens, she surmised.

“I think you killed me. Didn’t think it was possible.  Hoped that it was.”

Wait, what?

“You hoped that we, you know, did it, many times?”

“I was just hoping for once.  Damn, girl.  You had some pent up frustration going for you.  Hence the killing of me.  Not that I’m complaining.  It’s a good killing.”

Sometimes Hardison didn’t make much sense, but in this instance, maybe he did.  It had been so long since anyone had even kissed her more than once, it was nice for him to take his time and kiss her and kiss her and kiss her, slowing her down at least a little.

“Hope I didn’t break you.”

“Oh, honey, I’ll take your breaking any day. Just as long as it’s with hands and mouth and other body parts, then I’ll take it.”

Parker felt like she was floating, body covered in sweat and other stuff she didn’t want to think about.  It felt good, more than good, to finally do something about what she was feeling with Hardison.  There never seemed to be enough time to do anything.  Maybe she’d take the clue from Sophie and Nate and just do it, no matter where they were. 

As she rolled over to take her weight off of him, he grabbed onto her hand, pulling her to him, face to face.

“Going somewhere?” he said as he looked directly in her eyes.

“Nope.  I’m kinda heavy, aren’t I?”

“Nope.  I kinda like it when you lay across me.”

He’s snuggly, she figured out.  He wanted her to be all touchy feely too.  There had to be a compromise somewhere.

“I was hot,” she said as he smiled at her.

“My temperature runs a bit warm too sometimes.”

“I bet.”

Oh great, the after sex talk that couples are supposed to do.  What should she say?  That it was good? That she was satisfied?

“You don’t have to say it, you know?”

“Say what?”

“What you’re thinking.  I know how you think.  You don’t have to talk unless you want to.  You know that I can say enough for the both of us.”

“Sure can,” she said uncomfortably.

“Or I can say nothing at all.  Your choice.”

“I don’t have a frame of reference.  The few times I’ve done this, it was all ok, we’re finished. Now you can leave.”

Hardison looked perplexed.  “Really?  No snuggling?  No breakfast in the morning?  Girl, you have been deprived. Of course, it probably will be Eliot making breakfast in the morning.”

“It’s just gonna be weird.”

“How so? Unless we make it weird, I think we’re OK.  Just don’t act like Nate and Sophie did.  They actually thought they could hide it from us.”

“Well, they did hide it from us, for a while.  San Lorenzo?  Ring a bell?”

“Seriously?”

“Let’s just do what’s comfortable.  Play it by ear.  No snuggling in public though.  Don’t want to hurt Eliot’s feelings.”

That had bothered her the most.  Eliot seemed a bit put out earlier in the day, possibly sensing that she and Hardison’s relationship was moving along.  He was the fifth wheel in their wheelhouse now. 

“We gotta get him a girlfriend,” Parker pointed out.

“I don’t think he needs one.  His phone has more numbers of hot chicks then anyone.”

“If you say he stars them, then I might have to hit him tomorrow.”

Eliot’s sex life was something the team laughed about at times, ribbed him other times, and put up with when he disappeared for a weekend.  Nate knew not to call on him when that happened.  Only once had they called him back, but that was when someone on the team had been in danger. Eliot grumbled, but realized that the team needed him.

“The most romantic one of all of us, and he doesn’t have someone.”

Was Hardison right?  Eliot was a romantic?  She was sure that had to be Sophie.  Eliot wasn’t playing any games though, unlike what she’d seen of Sophie at times.  Sophie was too sly and closed off, while Eliot seemed always genuine when talking with the opposite sex.

“Maybe he’s gay?  Have we ever thought of that?”

“Not gay. I’ve seen the rolodex. There’s pictures of beautiful women.  The man is definitely not gay.  I mean, it would be OK if he was.  Then we’d have to find a red headed guy.”

Parker laughed a little at that.  “Definitely know that Nate’s not.  Sophie on the other hand, who knows?”

“Yeah, well, right now, we know what they’ve been doing, all the damn time.”

“We just have to be careful. I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Ruin what?”

“Us.  The group.  The team.  We make a pact right now, to never let this get in the way. Got it?”

She’d been thinking about this for months, not wanting to lose any of them by their actions and now by their words.  That’s one reason she’d been so careful in dealing with Alec.  She’d never want to hurt him or in the end, the team.

“Got it.  We are friends first.  That will never change.”

“If you say friends with benefits, I might not like that though.”

“Like this benefit?” Hardison said as he stroked his hand down her backside.

“I kinda like your benefits too,” she said as she rolled over on top of him.

“As I said, girl, you gonna kill me.”

“You’ll die happy.”


	11. Eliot Gives Nate Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate asks a question. Eliot answers as only Eliot could do.

Chapter Eleven—Eliot Gives Nate Advice

Eliot was not happy at all.  With all the rocking of the motorhome, his sleep was not restful at all.  Since he’d gotten more sleep as the thing was moving earlier on in the day, at least he had that.  As he looked over, he saw Nate stretched out in the chair Eliot had found in the back before going to sleep.  That could not be comfortable, at all.  But he wasn’t saying anything.  It was near daybreak, so he didn’t think it would be wise to wake him up just yet to go back inside. 

“Looks to be a beautiful sunrise,” Nate said as he raised his head.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Nah.  Light sleeper.”

“Should I ask why you’re out here?”

“Probably not.”

“Oh.”

They both stayed silent as they watched the sun peak over the horizon.  It really was a beautiful sunrise.

“Do I need to worry about people throwing things at other people today?”

Nate grimaced as he said that, the spell of the sunrise broken.

“Hope not.”

“Whatever you did, she’ll get over it.”

“Not likely.”

Eliot thought through his mind about what on earth would set off their grifter to the point where Nate was sleeping on a fold up camping chair?  Where’d he go with her once they’d walked off?  Eliot had drifted in and out of consciousness, tired down to the bone.  This was why he really did not want to drive straight through.  They needed to be rested to pull off the con they had planned in a few days’ time.

“Must have said something really stupid.”

“Yep.”

One or two word answers.  Something must really be wrong.

“She’ll forgive you.”

Nate laughed a little at that.  It wasn’t a pleasant laugh.

“Can’t take it back.”

Oh boy, Eliot thought.  What would he say that had him sleeping outside and Sophie where?

“Where’s Sophie?”

“I dunno.”

“Dammit, Nate,” Eliot whispered. 

Getting up, he opened the motorhome door, looked around for Sophie, even the bedroom.  Luckily, the two in there happened to pull blankets over themselves in the night.  Their clothes were everywhere.

Nate slumped over in the chair, head between his hands.

“She’s not in there.”

“What?”

“Small RV.  Not like she could hide.”

Nate’s eyes flashed with anger.  Either he knew he was responsible for Sophie’s disappearance, or someone else knew where she was.

“I’ll go that way, you the opposite.  She’s around here somewhere.”

Ten minutes later, Eliot saw Sophie walking down the dirt road, Nate trailing behind her.  He had no idea where the man had found her, only he did.

“So, where was she?”

“Pool.  Apparently she’d fallen asleep on one of the lounge chairs.”

Eliot sighed in relief, looking as Sophie entered the motorhome.  By the sway of her hips, she was angry. By the look in Nate’s eyes, he was worried, really worried.

“Two more days.  Think you two can keep it together and not bite each other’s heads off before we get there?”

“It’s not me.”

“I don’t care if it’s not you.  Figure it out.”

Eliot was pissed, but he had to be.  It was too damn early to mess with him.  And he needed some coffee.  Copious amounts of coffee to deal with the two of them.  By the looks of what he saw in the bedroom, he’d need even more to deal with that aftermath.  Why’d they all have to go and add sex to the equation?  Why couldn’t each one of them just have one night stands?  Or a significant other outside of work?  With all the emotions flying around, how was he supposed to keep them safe if all four of them flew off the handle and spent the night who knew where?  Sure, they were adults.  But after what had happened with Moreau, and what could happen with the new entity that had bugged Nate’s place, he had to be even more vigilant. 

Taking his water bottle in his hand, he downed a swig in one big gulp.  Coffee and food was next on the agenda.  Then they needed to get the hell on the road.

“Eliot, you’re the romantic, right?”

Oh crap, he thought.  Nate wanted to have this kind of conversation before caffeine.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

Nate sat down in the chair again, not facing the hitter. 

“How do you take it back?”

“Take what back?”  Oh holy shit, not his bailey wick.  Dammit, Nate.  Eliot choked a little on the water.  “If you said it, you meant it.”

It came out harsh, but there it was.  The one time he meant it, said it, it came out just like that.  He couldn’t take it back.  Aimee was mad at first, then happy, then really angry when he left.  That’s why he didn’t say it again, ever. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Now that was one of the strangest conversations he’d ever had with the mastermind.  For one of the smartest people on the planet, he sure was the dumbest.


	12. It's Just Sex, Sophie Thinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No, Sophie. It really isn't just about sex.

Chapter Twelve—It’s Just Sex, Sophie Thinks

Sophie stared off into the distance, hoping that she’d maybe wake up from the dream state she had put herself into and it would all go back to the way it was.

Oh god, Sophie.  I love you.  It rang in her head like a song that was put there and wouldn’t leave.  Nate’s voice was rough, just coming down from screwing her senseless against a wall.  That was the problem, now wasn’t it, she thought.  It was just sex.  He said it in the heat of the moment.  It didn’t mean anything. Did it?

Of course it did.  This was Nate she was talking about.  He always meant these kinds of earth shattering things. He certainly had said stupid, idiotic things to her in the past that he didn’t mean.  His tactic usually though was to not say anything that had to do with feelings.  He didn’t put his foot in his mouth.  He just didn’t say it at all.  He’d fumble, mumble, stutter, then back off.  This was clear, concise, and right in her ear, rough voice and all.  And he bloody well knew what that voice did to her.   Didn’t he?

She’d tell him what an idiot he was and more.  This was asinine, she figured.  They were friends, friends with benefits, friends who went out of their way to have a good time, be there for each other, be in each other’s beds.  It was all the damn time now though, and that was what bothered her.  She should have known he couldn’t handle a casual relationship.  It was all or nothing with him. 

As she watched him enter the motorhome with Eliot, she knew it was all or nothing with him.  It had always been that way.  If it hadn’t been, she would have had him in her bed years ago.  He just wasn’t that type of man.  That’s what she loved about him.  Bloody hell, now she was thinking it.

“Coffee,” Eliot muttered as he went to start breakfast.

Nate sat across from her, fiddling with his hands, not looking at her directly.  Now that was her Nate.  Not saying anything was her Nate. 

Eliot set up the coffee pot, the tea kettle and whipped up some pancake batter as he growled at the stove.  He slapped down a cup for Nate, hot water and tea bags for Sophie, and grimaced as he downed a hot sip of his own. 

“Good morning,” Parker sang out as she walked out of the bedroom.

Sophie turned and noticed that the only thing Parker had on was a sheet.

“Parker, clothes.”

Parker looked down, glanced to each of them, then smiled.

“Oops, sorry. Yay, pancakes?”

“Yeah, I’m making the damn pancakes.  At least someone is happy that I’m making pancakes.  I could just hand all of you cereal, but no.  I’m making pancakes.”

Eliot was on a roll too.  Nate looked down, somehow guilty about that too.  What had happened outside after she came in and sat down?  Glancing up, she caught his eyes and nodded Eliot’s way.  Nate shrugged his shoulders.

“Men. Every single one of you is certifiable.”

“Hey,” Hardison called out as he came out of the bedroom.  At least he was dressed.  “Oh, pancakes.”

“You’re damn right, there’s pancakes.  If one person complains, then there will be hell to pay.”

“Told you not to sleep outside.”

“Too much damn noise inside.”

Hardison looked at him funny, but sat down beside Nate with his cup of coffee. 

“Sleep well?” he asked the two of them.

“Pool lounge chair.”

“Camp chair.”

“Y’all know that there’s room for like eight people in this thing, right?  The dinette folds down, up there you could sleep.  Hell, people could sleep on the floor in this thing because of the slide out.”

Sophie could see that Nate’s hands were starting to shake a little.  He hadn’t had anything to drink since the night before and that was only beer.  Now she had to deal with that.

“Nate, are you alright?” she asked, noticing that the twisting of his hands got worse.

“Fine, just fine.  I’m gonna go take a shower.  Save me some pancakes, will ya?”

Probably just wanted to leave to get out of her sight.  Grabbing his stuff, he made his way out of the camper.  She had to follow him, if just to keep him safe.  She looked at Eliot closely.  He shook his head in agreement, watching her leave.  She pointed to her pocket where the earbud sat, just in case.

“Withdrawal’s a bitch,” she heard Hardison say as she made it out into the early morning sunshine.

She’d managed to grab her stuff from the night before, if just to use the restroom and brush her teeth while Nate took a shower.  She almost went in after him though since it took him longer than she’d ever seen him take a shower.  He finally walked out, hair wet and wild, hands shaking a bit more. His t-shirt and pants were damp too. That’s when she noticed he’d forgotten a towel.  Served him right for forgetting.

“Forget something?”

“If you’re gonna hassle me this morning about it, then just stop. I’m not in the mood.”

“I was talking about the towel.  Listen, you go back to the RV, I will rustle up something for you to drink.  I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Thanks, Soph.  I just, I don’t know.”

Don’t know about what he said last night or didn’t know about what was going on with him now?  She was in love with a sorry drunk who ran their lives like a conductor for a symphony.  Could she take just a bit of control from him?  Or had she in the past six months?  It felt like she had.  And now he had to go and tell her something that she couldn’t believe he’d feel?

“I said it, OK?  I said it.  Just don’t, just don’t run.  That’s all I want to know. Don’t leave.”

Run? He thought she’d run away because he was confused about their relationship?  And she kept calling it one in her mind.

“Oh, bloody hell, you bastard.  Just go back to the camper.  It’s like I’m your drug supplier or something.  I’ll get you your hit. You don’t have to suck up to me.”

Nate turned his head a little sideways, like he was really thinking about what she had just said. Now she was the one that said things she regretted later. 

“My hit?  Don’t do me any favors, alright?”

“Then don’t have any today.  Can’t do it?  I remember what you were like that first year when you went into rehab.”

Nate closed his eyes on that memory.  It had to be done.  Someone had to be on the inside with Hurley and it certainly couldn’t have been Hardison. He couldn’t grift at all back then.

“Can’t do it, can you?”

“Sophie, don’t push me.  Once this is over, if you don’t stop, I swear I will take you over my knee. Got it?”

And there he had to go and do that.  He’d only said that in her ear, so that no one else could hear what he was saying.

“Promise?”

Nate’s eyes went wide, lust apparent at that one word.

“I never make a promise I can’t keep,” he said, his voice low and seductive.

“Oh, we’ll see about that, Nathan Ford. We’ll see.”

It took Sophie all of ten minutes to barter for some Jack Daniels.  As she swayed her hips down the dirt road, she realized that indeed, she did believe what he said.  Now if she could just say it back to him.  Then all would be well.  Sort of well.  Should she go there?

As she walked into the RV, Nate looked up hopefully.  He smiled her way as she placed the liquor bottle down for all to see.

“Yeah, don’t want to have to live through that again,” Parker pointed out as she saw the bottle.  “Remember, I was there.  Going over the wall?  Scary.”

“Eat,” Eliot demanded as Nate added a splash of alcohol to his coffee.

He sighed as he drank down his early morning drink with a side of pancakes. 

“Thank you,” he mouthed out as he sat the almost drained cup down.

Sophie tried to work her fingers through her tangled mess of hair, but with no luck.  As she watched Parker and Hardison down their food in record time and then clean up since they were on clean up duty, she wondered how the two of them could be so close after what had happened last night.  She and Nate went their separate ways after the first time.  He couldn’t even look her in the eyes.  Now all he could do was stare at her once he had his morning imbibe. 

“Nate, you’re staring.”

“Come here,” he said as he saw her dilemma. 

Holding up her brush, he gently worked the tangles out as she sighed in relief. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t go to bed with wet hair,” he whispered into her ear.

His fingers occasionally stroked her neck and shoulders as he finished with the knots.

“Time to go,” Eliot growled after he came back in from putting everything away.  “Is this gonna be a thing, you two?”

Nate held the brush up in the air while Sophie leaned to the side.

“Thing?” Nate wondered.

“I’m drivin’,” he announced as he made them get up so the slide out could be pulled in.  “Don’t you dare throw that brush, Nate? I’m watchin’ you.”

It was like they were two little kids and dad had just gotten mad at them for fighting in the back seat.  Little did she know that was exactly what would happen two hours later.  Dammit, Eliot, she thought.  Dammit all to hell and back.


	13. Nate Realizes That It’s Just Not Sex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie figures out how to say it back to Nate.

Chapter Thirteen—Nate Realizes That It’s Just Not Sex

“So?”

“So?”

They eyed each other as Hardison and Eliot jabbed back and forth with insults, Parker perched between them, poking each of them in turn when she felt the need.  It had been two hours of deadly silence between them, but not without looks here and there.

Nate had taken one of the files out of his bag and was going over it in his mind, although he kept losing track of his thoughts when he noticed Sophie looking at him, very pointedly.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“I was going to ask you the same question.”

“Not a problem.”

“Really?  There’s not a problem?  Not from where I’m sitting.”

He sighed in exasperation.  She’d rib him until he crumbled and yelled at her, then they’d dance around each other for a while longer.  Dammit, he was tired of it.

“What might the problem be, Sophie?” he asked as he folded his arms over his chest.

“The fact that you’re an asshole?  That you can never talk, really talk, about your feelings.  You’re emotionally stunted.  Shall I go on?” she told him, attempting to keep the other three from hearing.

“Bedroom, now,” he growled back, taking her arm roughly.

She jerked her arm out of his reach and proceeded to throw the brush directly at his head. It bounced off the back of Eliot’s seat, startling Parker as it did.

“Didn’t I say no throwing things, you two? Do I need to pull over and come back there?”

“No,” they both shouted.

“Then stop fucking around and sit down.  I’m drivin’.”

Instead of sitting down, Nate dropped his chin to his chest and walked away.  He really did not want to be in the same room with her at that moment.  His emotions were just too jumbled, too on the surface to look at her any longer.  When had it gotten this complicated?  He wished they could go back to the beginning, right after San Lorenzo, so he could work the plan differently.  And maybe that was the problem.  Sophie never did follow the rules, so his plans couldn’t work on her the way he wanted.

Shoving the door to the bedroom shut, he sat down on the newly changed sheets that Hardison had insisted on performing before they left for their next stop.  And he emphatically looked at Nate and told him that he was to not, under any circumstances, mess these up.  Nate had looked at him innocently, but it hadn’t made a difference.  Hardison then handed him some quarters, telling Nate that there was laundry at their next stop and the sheets in the bag better be clean before the end of the night.

Nate almost came out with a curse word, but Sophie’s smile stopped him.  Parker snorted his way, but was on to the next thing, punching up new radio stations to bug Eliot until he yelled at her again.  It kept her busy.  And the starefest had started between him and Sophie, so he forgot about Hardison’s demand until he was in the room anyway. 

The door opened quickly, slamming into his knees because he was sitting directly in front of it.  There was no look of sorry on Sophie’s face when he grimaced in pain at her actions.  She slammed it, stood over him with her resolve face, hands on hips.  This day was not working out the way he’d planned.  Maybe he should just stop planning his days?

“What the hell?” was her opening line.

“I came in here to be alone.”

“You came in her to sulk. There’s a difference.  Your dramatic exit, so mature.”

“You threw a hair brush at me.  And you’re calling me immature?”

“You deserved it.”

“Yes, I deserve a knock to the head while Eliot is driving, wanting to pull over and separate us like two brawling children?”

“He’s right, Nate. You do deserve a knock to the head.  Maybe you’d stop acting like such a, such a…”

He knew she couldn’t come up with a comeback.

“Jerk.”

Oh, she could, but not a unique one.  She’d called him that plenty of times in the past.

“Me?”

He stood up, not realizing there really wasn’t enough room for him to do so.  She pushed him back down quickly.  Bouncing on the bed, he stood again, this time ready for her hands.  Grabbing them, he managed to pull her with him as she attempted to shove him down.  Eliot’s timing too was part of the reason why instead of him standing over her, she was now pinning him to the bed.  He had meant to reverse their positions, not create one in that diabolical head of hers.

“Sophie, get up.”

“Oh, I think not.”

Her look of anger and hurt took him back just a moment, him realizing that what he was doing probably wasn’t the best course of action at that moment. 

“So, this is your plan?  Keep me here until I talk?”

“Keep you here until you see what you’ve done.”

What did he do?  Oh, he actually opened up to her.  He thought that maybe that’s what she wanted.  He guessed wrong. As always.

“I said something you don’t like and now I’m paying for it.”

“You are so wrong.”

He could see her starting to tear up, feel how her arms had started to shake as she held him in place.  Oh crap.  He definitely had guessed wrong.

“How?”

“How?  You ask how?”

One tear escaped as she folded into him, forehead to forehead, arms now beside his head instead of pinning him down. 

“Sophie.”

“Don’t you dare say my name that way.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I hate you, you bastard.”

“I can see that,” he whispered as he brought one hand to her cheek to wipe away another tear.

His neck became wet as she nuzzled against it, placing kisses between taking deep breaths.  He knew she was trying to control her emotions and tell him what she thought.  Only she wasn’t having much success. He’d let her be until she was ready, if she ever was.  Her body melted into his, hot, steamy, making him want to rid her of the clothes she had put on that morning. Was this going to be the answer every time he brought up feelings?  Was she going to grind him down with her body when he thought he was getting somewhere emotionally?

“Why, Nate? Why now?” she finally managed to get out as the crying ebbed.

“I don’t know. It just, it was there.  Eliot said I couldn’t take it back.”

“Eliot said?  You’re getting relationship advice from him of all people?”

“No.  Well, yeah.  He’s right though.  I can’t take it back.”

Sophie rolled to his right, leg still tangled up with his.

“Does that make it true?  That you can’t take it back?”

Now he figured out why she was angry with him.  He’d said it probably at the wrong time, the wrong place.  He was never one for doing things the way everyone else did.

“I, um, yeah. It’s just, I’m not good with words.  So there it is.”

“Yes, there it is.”

Glancing over at her, he saw that she was smirking at him, eyes a bit red from crying on his neck.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Oh, no, darling.  Just the opposite. My emotionally unavailable boyfriend just told me that he loved me while we were having sex against the wall in a pool house in the middle of what, Pennsylvania, Ohio?  Oh hell, I have no idea where we are.”

“Boyfriend?” was the word he teased out of her sentence.

“Significant other?  Lover?  Dumbass guy who really, really knows how to use his tongue to his advantage? Where else shall we go with this one?”

“I kinda ignored the emotionally unavailable part, didn’t I?”

“Just a bit.”

They both lay on their backs, shoulders touching, looking up at the ceiling as the motorhome swayed to and fro. 

“You really said it, didn’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Does that mean I have to say it back?”

“Oh boy.”

“I mean, really, it’s been a bumpy ride to say the least, Nate.  And here you go springing this on me, without warning, without any kind of build up or clue.  Throws a girl, I tell you.”

“Throws you?  I thought you were Sophie Devereaux.  Nothing could throw you.”

“I left you to fend for yourself for six months.  Nothing throws me?”

“There is that.”

“Sex is so much easier.”

“A lot more fun too.  Hardison changed the sheets.”

Sophie giggled a bit at that.  “I bet he threatened you.”

“He did indeed.  And handed me a bunch of quarters.”

“Oh, oh.  Not like they didn’t do anything in here.”

They both laughed a bit at that, knowing, but not wanting to know what Parker and Hardison were up to when they were up to their own antics last night.

“Eliot must want to kill us.”

“Parker and I have devised a scheme to get him a girlfriend.”

“Oh, and that will turn out well,” Nate said sarcastically.

“I didn’t say it was a good plan.”

Sophie’s fingers touched his.  He could feel her smile before looking over at her face.  Sure, the anger was still present, but maybe she’d take it as it was and move on.

“I, um, you don’t have to say, you know, whatever you want.”

“Did I say stunted too?  Emotionally unavailable, stunted man that I seemed to have gotten myself involved with, tells me that he loves me and then thinks that I’ll just forget that it happened because I’m afraid to say it back?”

“Well, when you put it that way.”

“Oh bloody hell, I fell in love with the ultimate idiot.  Where did I go wrong?”

Nate sucked in a breath, having heard what she just said.  How she managed to insult him as she declared that she loved him was all Sophie.

“Um, you fell in love with me? When?”

He looked squarely at her and she returned the favor.  Her dark eyes danced, twinkling with amusement at his question.

“Seriously?  I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t half in love with you, Nate.”

Before he could move or even acknowledge what she had just said, she pressed herself over him, practically devouring him as her hips ground down.  How she could go from zero to wanting to have sex was still a mystery to him.  He’d take it though.  Even if she killed him because of it.

She stopped her grinding, mouth forming an O as she did.

“Uh oh.”

“What?”

“I just remembered something.”

“Something so earth shattering that you had to stop what you were doing?”

“We didn’t use any protection last night.”

“Uh, no.”

“It’s OK.  Double protected.  It’s OK.”

He looked at her suddenly, wondering why she chose this moment to think of that.

“What?”

Pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, she riffled through it, pulling out every credit card, ID and anything else that was in there.

“Fuck.”

Throwing them all aside, Sophie sighed and whipped her top off. She did have the most glorious breasts he had ever seen.

“Guess we’ll have to be inventive, then.”

“We’re always inventive. And why are you so worried?”

“No reason.”

Slipping the straps of her bra down, Sophie slowly revealed what he was waiting for. He’d never get over how soft her skin was, how it smelled, how she tasted, how she shivered when his tongue found another spot on her that made her jump.  His hands moved up and under her breasts, watched as she arched her back when he circled them with his thumbs.  It didn’t take her long until she had her underwear off, his pants pulled down, shirt up over his head.

“Turnabout is fair play,” she whispered as her mouth traveled down his neck, biting and licking her way down his body.  Her hands, so soft and gentle, caressed him until he was ready to explode. Only she didn’t move over him but kept up what she was doing, sliding up and down, hands bringing him to a conclusion. To say he was a little taken aback was a surprise.  She always surprised him that was for sure. And now the bed was messed up again.  She slumped over to his side, lying on her back.

“I’m gonna need more quarters.”

“I could probably find you some, later.”

He watched as Sophie’s hands worked their way up her ribcage to rest on those glorious breasts he watched sway as her hands had worked on him.

“Need some help with that?”

“Unless you think this is a spectator sport.”

“I love to participate.”

“You love to watch too.”

Thank goodness she’d already seen to his needs.  Watching her perform the deed on herself was something that they definitely needed to explore in more detail once this trip was over. He watched as she held her nipple between her fingers, body writhing on the bed. 

“Maybe I will watch.  You seem to be doing an excellent job of it.”

“Later.  Get down there and take care of business.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He stared as she spread her legs wide, giving him enough room to work.  He had to shift her since the bed was tight and there certainly wasn’t any other space in the room to spare.  Sophie usually wasn’t so open about this, even though she liked to see if she could get away with sex in a public space.  This was so much more intimate, light shining through the cracks in the blinds, the feeling of traveling at light speed, the ability to see all of her in the light of day.  She was exposing herself to him in ways he never thought she could do.

With one hand on her breast, he watched as her other worked its way to her core, slick and ready.  His tongue joined her eager finger, vying for a spot in her warmth.  He took over once she realized that he meant business and added his fingers to the mix.  She had other things to attend to as the other hand went back up to roll a nipple between her fingers.  After he added three fingers inside her, he could see that she was so close to completion, watched as she writhed on the bed with no worries other than coming long and hard against him. Drawing her into his mouth, he sucked hard until he could feel her tightening, letting up a bit, but not stopping his fingers until she completely collapsed on the bed beneath him.

“You bastard,” she breathed out.

As he made it back up her body, she pulled him down into a kiss, all tongue and need.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she chanted over and over again. And damn if she didn’t mean what she said.


	14. Hardison's Too Touchy Feely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliot gives Hardison advice. Hardison has an uh oh moment as he watches Sophie.

Chapter Fourteen—Hardison’s Too Touchy Feely

 

“I don’t think I have any more quarters,” Hardison mumbled as he watched Sophie come out of the bedroom.

Sophie pulled a drink out of the refrigerator and sat down on the sofa, eyes everywhere but pointedly not looking his way or to the door in the back.  Hey, at least she wasn’t throwing things at him.  Nate finally came out, with sheets in hand and stuffed them deep into the bag.  Nodding as he passed Hardison, he sat down at the dinette again, picking up the folder he had left there before going to the back more than an hour before.

Next time, Hardison concluded he needed to buy an RV with a washer and dryer.  He watched as the two others passed folders between them, smoothly and without even looking up as they did.  Gone were the looks of anger or lust.  They were working now.  Parker turned to look at him now, smile plastered on her face.  Was this the way it was for Nate and Sophie when they first came together?  Smiles on Sophie’s face, shit-eating grin on Nate’s?  As far as he knew, they were both nursing a hangover on an airplane back to the States, and then they were off to that mountain that damn near killed them all.  He would never understand those two, ever.

Grabbing drinks from the kitchen, he settled himself in between Eliot and Parker in the front, handing over drinks to the two of them.

“Have any more quarters?” he asked Eliot as the man opened his drink.

“Four damn hours until we reach the next campground.  They can’t keep their hands to themselves.”

Hardison really wanted to reach out and touch Parker, but knew that Eliot would combust from that, so he hesitated.  His friend was left out, but even Hardison knew that Eliot wouldn’t be acting this way.  Eliot was too smooth, too romantic, too whatever to show his cards in public.

“So another eight or nine hours of driving tomorrow?”

“Plus the time change, Parker.  By then, the plan should be in place.  It’s just makin’ me nervous.”

“The plan?” Parker asked.

“The fact that we are staying at my sister’s house.  Maybe we should just get a room in town.  I just, it worries me, OK.”

“The con is in a town over.  Why should you worry?”

“What if it goes wrong?”

Now Hardison understood why Eliot was so tense, not including the amorous dealings with the four of them.

“Nah, it won’t go wrong.  It’s a simple plan,” Parker explained.

“And one more thing.  No shenanigans while we’re at my sister’s house. My nephew is there.  So no hanky panky.”

“Oh no.  That would be weird.”

Parker was right. It would be weird.  Not that Nate and Sophie ever adhered to that call.

“Listen, maybe some of you need to stay in the RV and some of you need to stay in the barn.”

“In the barn?  Like where the animals are? Are there horses?”

Parker was worried about horses.  They always worried her.

“Yeah, but they’re in another barn.  This one is actually nice.  My sister rents it out to people.  Fixed it up and everything.  Makes money on the side.”

“Nate and Sophie can stay with the horses.”

Her fear of horses sometimes amused Hardison, but he knew that teasing her about it might have him sleeping alone for a while.  He wasn’t willing to go there at all.

“What Parker? They’re just horses.  Gentle creatures.”

“Who can kick the shit out of you just as soon as look at you?  I know, their shifty eyes, their swishy tails.”

“I’ll tell Nate and Sophie that they have to sleep with the barn animals. That will go over really well.”

Eliot groaned at Hardison’s sarcasm.  Since the two were fighting all the time, maybe having them as far away from the rest of them as possible might give them some time to figure things out.  And then Hardison could have more time with Parker without anyone else’s interference.

“Besides, you guys are weird enough.  And there are only three bedrooms.  My nephew’s room is almost a closet, it’s so small.”

“So the sleeping arrangements are settled.”

“No barns.”

“No barns, sweetie.  No horses.”

Hardison would do anything for her now.  He’d attempt to make her happy, make sure she had everything she needed.

“Move.  I want a snack,” Parker demanded of Hardison.

Hardison watched as Parker moved to the back to the kitchen.

“Hey, I’d be careful,” Eliot started.

“Careful? Of what?”

“Parker is not gonna like it if you keep treating her with kid gloves.  She’s a woman, an independent woman who could snap your neck in two if you get out of hand.  Got that?”

Hardison knew exactly what type of person she was.  He’d lived with her almost daily for four years, give or take the time they’d spent apart when the team split up.

“Chill. I know what I’m doing.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say.  Look at Nate.  Intelligent, world savvy, doesn’t know shit about women.  You think you can handle Parker?”

“I’m not emotionally shut down, now am I?”

“And don’t share so much either.  Turns women off too.  There has to be a balance.  Manly, yet available.”

“What?  Like you?  And who’s in a relationship?”

“I am not in a relationship because I don’t want to be.  Simple as that.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that.”

Hardison could see Eliot’s hand tense up on the steering wheel.  He never wanted to push his friend on these kinds of things.  It just that sometimes he thought that Eliot was trying to fool himself, shutting himself off from having anything like a relationship because of his past.

“Alright, we need to stop for lunch, everyone,” Eliot called out.

“Drugstore.  I need to stock up on shampoo and stuff,” Sophie chimed in.

“Liquor store,” Nate added.

“Right,” Sophie added, sarcasm deep.

In the end, Eliot found them a drugstore that had liquor, which pleased Nate to no end.  Sophie grumbled, but went off on her own, in search of girly stuff, things that Hardison did not want to know about. Parker picked up snacks, more snacks than she could possibly eat.

“Here,” she boasted as she came up to him.

“What, mamma?”

“I’m getting snacks for the both of us.  And well, possibly Nate and Sophie and Eliot.  Eliot doesn’t like snacks too much, but whatever.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“Don’t gush,” she warned him.

“No gushing, at all.  Thanks, Parker.”

“You’re welcome.”

As Hardison traveled around a corner, he noticed Sophie intently staring at something on one of the shelves.  When she noticed him, she quickly walked away, having picked up her selection. It was when she scrambled out of the store, opened the packaging and swallowed whatever it was she had bought that had him worried. 

“Hey,” he said as he came up to her, but not wanting to startle her.

“Ready?” she asked as she threw away the packaging in the trash next to the store.

“You OK?”

“Peachy. You?”

“Wonderful.” He smiled her way.

She still had stuff in her bag though, so he didn’t want to wonder why she was keeping secrets. Nate stumbled out a moment later, taking her eyes away from him.  Her smile seemed on edge, too fake right then.  It was like she was trying to cover something up, definitely from Nate.  As they walked back to the RV together, Hardison lagged behind.  Retracing his steps, he looked in the garbage can where Sophie had deposited whatever she had thrown away.

“What?  Oh.  Huh.  Uh oh.”

Now that was not what he was expecting.  Maybe he’d better have a talk with Parker too, before things got too messy.  Women were just so complicated.  No sense in making those complications worse.


	15. Parker and Sophie Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker and Sophie talk again. Nate gives Parker advice.

Chapter Fifteen—Parker and Sophie Bond

“Ok, Ok.  Everything’s ok now.  Right?  I have it covered.”

Sophie was muttering to herself.  Parker had never heard the grifter mutter like this. She thought only Hardison did this when deep in thought.  Now Sophie was doing it.

“Have what covered?” Parker said, standing directly next to Sophie in the parking lot.

“Oh, just had to make sure I didn’t forget anything.  You know how Eliot is.  He probably won’t let us stop again like this until we arrive in Oklahoma.”

“Yeah, I know.  Girly stuff freaks him out.  Probably freaks out Nate and Hardison more though, because they do not talk about that shit ever.  At least Eliot acknowledges that we are women.  The two of them think that things just appear out of thin air.”

And there she did it again.  Parker really had to stop babbling to people when they didn’t want to hear it.

“Oh yes.  Nate and women stuff?  I’ve never heard a man stutter more than when there’s mascara on the counter, much less more intimate things.”

“That bad?  Oh, I mean, really?  Bastard.”

Sophie giggled a little at Parker’s about face.

“Worse.  I see you have lots of snacks for us?”

Parker held up her stash. Two bags loaded down with sugary goodness.

“Please tell me you have chocolate in there somewhere.”

“What?  It’s like you know me so well.”

Parker never had a girlfriend before.  Sure, she and Peggy were getting along just fine now.  She and Tara sort of got along when she was around, except the time she almost dropped Tara off the side of the FBI building. What she’d missed though was Sophie.  When Sophie was away, she missed those times when the grifter would pull her aside, teach her things about the world and not be condescending about it.  Nate would try to do the same, often stumbling through it, but it wasn’t the same.  Sophie just had the right touch.

“Eliot is going to bust a gut when he sees your purchases.”

“Don’t care.  Show him what Nate bought.  Distract him.”

“Buying a couple fifths of whiskey is not going to distract Eliot.”

“True.”

Nate had beaten the others back to the motorhome, sipping on something that smelled awful to Parker, but she wasn’t complaining.  Sophie turned her nose up in disgust and kept moving.  Parker dug out the chocolate as the two gathered in the kitchen.

“Don’t tell Eliot.”

“Don’t tell Eliot what?” the voice behind them said.

“Oh, nothing,” Parker tried to cover as Eliot’s hand came up and over her shoulder, attempting to grab the bag of Hershey’s kisses out of her hand.

“Lunch, then a treat.”

“You’re not my mother.”

“Parker?”

Parker stuck her tongue out at the hitter just as he put the chocolate in the refrigerator, out of her reach.  Sophie growled his way, but let him by as he did this.  Handing them each a sandwich, they all sat down at the table, except for Hardison, who hadn’t made it back as quickly as they did.

“Oh goodie, food,” Hardison said as he walked into the camper.

“Eat before Parker bursts a blood vessel waiting for chocolate.”

“You make it sound like she was going to eat the whole bag, Eliot,” Sophie told the man.

“Only half.  The other half is for Sophie.”

They all looked at the two women closely. Sophie rolled her eyes at all of them and downed her sandwich in no time flat.  Parker noticed that Hardison was studying Sophie, like he was trying to figure something out about her, but didn’t want to ask.  Since it was Parker’s turn at the wheel, maybe later she’d have time to grill him what was going on.

“I’m drivin’,” Eliot announced.

“What? I thought, wait a minute,” Parker wondered as Eliot made his way into the driver’s seat.

“I was tired as hell yesterday. Now, I’m not.  Just go, relax.  I got this.”

“Yeah, you got this,” Parker replied sadly.

Sophie plopped herself in the passenger seat, book in hand as she did.

“Shotgun,” she said as she pulled her sock clad feet under her.

Either she was avoiding Nate like the plague, but who couldn’t blame her as she watched him down another drink, or she truly wanted to hear a bunch of country music for the next three hours before they arrived at their next destination.

“Sophie, I don’t wanna deal with him,” Parker whined, but not meaning to.

“Deal with what?” Nate said as he put his feet up on the bench.

Hardison took a cup, pulled out a bunch more quarters from his pocket, and sat the cup directly in front of Nate, just to remind him that he had a boatload of laundry to complete before the end of the night.

“Oh, jesus.”

“Deadline is 10pm.  I’d like it done before then.”

Behind her, Sophie giggled again.

“Whatever,” Nate shrugged, taking a pillow and putting it behind his head to lean up against the window.

Sitting down on the sofa next to Hardison, Parker relaxed a little bit as the motorhome swayed back and forth. Nate seemed to doze off as Sophie dove into her book.  That would have made Parker queasy, trying to read and be in a car.  It didn’t seem to bother the grifter at all.  Sophie was avoiding Nate too, which was a bit bothersome.  At least they’d stopped pawing each other or fighting.

“So, what’s up with those two?” Parker leaned into Hardison so that no one else could hear their conversation.

“Dunno. Something is though.  Makin’ me kinda worried too.  Something I gotta ask you?”

“Yeah?”

“Not sure this is the place.”

Parker turned to look at Hardison.  He looked too serious right now for his own good.

“Spill.”

“Just making sure things are OK between us, you know.  Things got pretty hot and heavy in there.  Just checking in.”

“We’re good. Now spill.”

“Something’s got me to thinking.  Are we being safe and all?”

“Safe?” Parker asked as she leaned into him even more.

“I was just, you know, just making sure that all is well.”

“All is well what?”

Dammit, Hardison.  She had no clue why he was beating around the bush right now.  It was irking her because she thought they’d cleared the air the day before regarding relationships and the physical stuff that went along with it.

His lips came close to her ear, like he was making sure that no one heard them for certain.

“I bought more protection and wanted to make sure you were OK with that.”

He said it so fast she wondered if she had heard him right.  More protection?

“Oh, oh.  I know this one. Condoms.  Wait, what?  OK, Eliot said no more hanky panky while we were at his sister’s house.”

“No hanky panky inside his sister’s house.  Discreet is my middle name.”

“Right.  No, it’s not.”

“Ok, it’s not. I just worry about things.  Stupid things.”

“Hey, I’m glad you do.  I do things you know too.  I really don’t think I’m ready for any kind of kid, if ever.  So don’t worry.”

Hardison still looked worried, although he relaxed a little bit and took a drink of his now opened soda.

“Got one of those IUD thingies a few years ago. I’m good.”

Hardison spit his soda all over the front of his shirt.  She sure did know how to get him with those kinds of things. Perfect timing on her part.

“Now I have to change.  You did that on purpose.”

“Sharing.  I thought you liked it that I shared.”

“Too much sharing.  Just too much. Your timing?  Soda?”

Hardison took off for the bedroom to change his shirt. As she watched the scenery fly by, she noticed that indeed Nate had not been sleeping as she thought.  He’d opened one eye, then closed it again, like he was eavesdropping on them.  He couldn’t hear everything they said, but she bet he could hear some of it.  Bouncing up and out of her seat, she slid in to the other side of the dinette, putting her chin in her hands and stared hard at Nate.

“Parker, you got something you want to say?”

“What?”

“What do you need to say?”

“Eavesdropper.”

“You were talking?”

“You were listening?”

“Huh?  I was sleeping.  Kinda hard when all I hear is your voice.”

“Have another drink.”

“Had enough for now.”

“So?”

“And?”

Parker knew that she wouldn’t get anywhere with Nate when he was like this.  Maybe Sophie could, but there was no way she was working that hard.  She kind of felt sorry for Sophie sometimes.  Reading Hardison was so much simpler.

“You were looking at me like you wanted to tell me something, Nate.”

“Be careful.”

“Of?”

Nate sighed, exasperated at the way she was avoiding. 

“Hardison.  Of the whole situation.  Believe me, I know.”

“What?  Not the same.  Really not the same.”

“You like him?”

“I do.”

“Good.  You’re good for him.  Just be careful.”

“You be careful too.  Sophie’s my friend.”

“I’m glad she’s your friend.  She doesn’t have many friends.”

“Neither do I.”

“Point taken.”

Hardison came out, new shirt on, dirty one in hand.

“You smell like orange soda.”

“Of course I do,” Hardison mumbled as he sat down on the other side of the dinette with Parker.

“Oh, fuck it,” Nate growled, getting up and going in the back.

If one could slam the door shut in an RV, then Nate was going to try it.  He didn’t succeed though.  It only made a muffled whump as he did.


	16. Sophie Can’t Keep Nate Out of Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now Eliot's giving Sophie relationship advice. Sophie gets herself into a spot of trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sophie and Nate are making up for lost time! I know, I know. I love it when the guys have to deal with things that women have to deal with, which means not for the most part.

Chapter Sixteen—Sophie Can’t Keep Nate Out of Trouble

For the next three hours Sophie attempted to read her book.  She was having no luck though and just watched as the scenery flew by her window.  Eliot was mostly silent, efficiently driving as he always did. 

“Almost there?” she asked.

“Yeah, probably less than an hour.  Doin’ OK?”

“I wish.  Complicated.”

“When is it ever not?”

“Does make life interesting.”

“Does Nate, does he make life interesting?”

“You know the man.  He really is a pain in my ass.”

“Your choice.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You solve his problem yet?”

“What? The one where he’s being a pain or the one where he actually had a real, honest to goodness feeling and didn’t know how to deal with it?”

“Well, both.”

“We worked it out. He’ll always be a pain though.”

“Worked it out as in?”

“What is it with the twenty questions?”

Sophie turned to Eliot to see him grin.

“Amusing.”

“Bastard.”

Sophie watched as Eliot relaxed a little, hands not so tense on the steering wheel.  Possibly her joking around helped.  She hoped that he wasn’t feeling the heat of all that was going on around him.

“If you were feeling a little put out, would you tell us, Eliot?”

“Put out?  Hey, you know me.  If any of you is getting on my nerves or trying to get away with shit, I will call you on it.  Just sayin’.”

She could tell that he had serious face, so yes he indeed would put each of them in their places if things got out of hand.

“The first time I saw him with you, I knew.  Knew how you felt, knew how he felt.  Even when he said your name, I could tell what was what.”

“Were we that transparent?”

“He was practically salivating watching you on that stage the first time.  As soon as you said two words to him, I could see.  The way you kept looking at him, like you wanted to jump him, even though he was being an asshole.”

Sophie turned her head away from Eliot’s insight.  Yes, the moment he came back into her life, she wanted Nate, even though she could see how broken he was, how changed he was from the Nate she knew before.

Now he was different.  He wasn’t the Nate that chased her through Europe.  He wasn’t the Nate that drank his way through their first year of cons.  He was a new, and somewhat improved, mixture of both. Sure, he still was a drunk sometimes, but not as much.  Nate still could be the biggest asshole she’d ever known, but even that was less and less these days. The fire in his eyes, what she missed when she didn’t see him for long stretches, was still there though.  He was a little older, hopefully a little wiser, and had told her finally that he loved her.

“Just be careful.  I know that you can hide how you feel, but him?  Not so sure he could.”

“Me, hide the fact that I care for him deeply?  So much so that when he was shot in that bank, I yelled out his name.  I’m just not sure anymore, Eliot.  I’m not sure I have the gameface to pull this off.”

“Well, then you find a new one.”

“Glad that you have faith in me.  Not so sure about myself.”

Sophie was so unsure about herself and her abilities that when she found herself in a strange situation four hours later, it almost all went to hell.  It was almost like it was out of some dark comedy, but she wasn’t laughing.

The next stop seemed to start off alright in her book.  Nate was again bleary eyed when Eliot pulled into the space that was allotted for him.  As he set up the motorhome, the others wandered the place, trying to get their bearings before it was too dark.  There were a few parties happening, even if it was a Sunday night.  Eliot had them park in the adult section, just so if they were too loud for some reason, then he’d not feel guilty about waking up some kid in the middle of the night.

And what an adult section it was.  They appeared to land into some kind of party street, with drinks being freely passed around, and the way Sophie saw it, possibly significant others being passed around too.  It shocked her as she watched a few of these people go from one person to another.  Hardison even had the gall to put his hand over Parker’s eyes so she wouldn’t see.

“Oh, hey, so what’s up?  Food anyone?” Eliot said as he approached after setting up.  “Uh?  What? What is going on?”

“Dunno,” Parker managed to get out as she pushed Hardison’s hand away from her face.

The five of them stood there and watched the antics not twenty feet away from them.

“Um, OK.  Why don’t we go this way and I’ll cook.”

“Yep.”

“Sure.”

“Alrighty.”

“Let’s do it.”

“Parker, not appropriate.”

“What they’re doing is not appropriate?  From now on, whatever I say or do is gonna be fine, now isn’t it?”

They all looked at her and shook their heads yes.

“At least their clothes were still on,” Hardison mentioned as they filed into the motorhome.

Eliot quickly whipped up a fast meal, which they all downed in record time.  He didn’t offer to sleep outside with all the noise happening.

“Don’t want to wake up with someone else in my sleeping bag.”

“Eight people, folks.”

Nate had disappeared as soon as the meal was finished to do Hardison’s laundry, grumbling as he did.  When he didn’t make it back in what seemed like a reasonable time though, Sophie started to worry.

“Should I worry?” she asked Eliot as he sat reading his book.

“Worry?  Nate’s a big boy.”

“It’s just, you know.”

“Lots of free flowing alcohol.  I’ll go look,” Eliot offered.

“Yeah, you go look.  It’s what you do,” Hardison added.

“I’ll go too.  I hate being cooped up in here for this long,” Sophie said as she slid her shoes back on.

Both Parker and Hardison just stood there, hands to their sides like they were hiding something.  Sophie could see that it annoyed Eliot to no end.

Eliot pointed to Sophie that she should walk one way and he’d walk the other. 

“We’ll meet up in fifteen minutes.  If there’s no Nate, then we widen the search.”

“He probably just sat down somewhere.  Didn’t want Hardison bothering him about the sheets.”

“Can’t say I blame Hardison.”

Sophie stuck her tongue out at Eliot and turned on her heel to go off and find Nate before he got into too much trouble.  Finding him in the dark though made it a challenge.  Sophie met a few people along the way, telling them what he looked like, but no one could place him. She took to calling his name occasionally.

“Nate,” she called out, but instead of Nate stumbling out onto the road, she saw two others striding up to her.

“Hey,” one of them said as she came closer.

“Oh, hello.  I was looking for my friend.  He’s about this tall, curly, dark hair, blue eyes.  Could have had a little too much to drink.”

Could be acting like an asshole, she wanted to add but she didn’t.

“No, sorry.  Hey, why don’t you come over to our party?  We’ll see if he stopped by.”

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to look, she thought.  As she walked with the other two, everyone waved who passed her by.  Everyone was very friendly, which was a bonus.  It might make finding Nate easier because he truly did not like it when people were this friendly, which would make him stick out like a sore thumb.  He always thought there was some ulterior motive when people were just generally friendly.  His mind worked too fast, all the time.

Her new friends were so lovely.  They passed her an unopened beer, so she thought, well why not.  They couldn’t drug her with unopened beer. 

“So, where are you from?” her other escort asked.

“Boston, for now.”

“You do have a wonderful accent, you know that,” the woman said as she came closer.

Sophie couldn’t remember if her name was Kathy or Katie.

“Thank you.”

“Where’s your friend?” the other asked.

“Not sure.  I probably should find him. He worries, just like boyfriends do.”

“Oh, so he’s your boyfriend?”

Sophie had started to get suspicious as she watched the others float here and there amongst the group. Several had disappeared into the motorhome while she was there.  From the distinct sounds coming from inside, she knew she’d not go in there for anything. As Eliot would say, it was a very distinctive sound that was emanating from inside.

“Yes, he is.  I’ll be going now.”

“Think he’d want to share?”

The two that had met her were closing in on her, backing her up against the large motorhome as they did.  Sophie certainly had been propositioned many times over her lifetime, but this was just weird. 

“No, I don’t think so.  He’s the jealous type.”

“He could watch.”

Oh dammit, Sophie thought.  If Nate comes by and hears this, she’ll never hear the end of it. She needed to end this right now and walk away.  She could handle herself.  She just didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“Listen, I know that the two of you mean well, but it’s just not me.”

“Oh, come on.  Didn’t you know when you parked here, that’s what you signed up for?”

“Dammit, Eliot,” she mumbled to herself.  “Apparently not.”

“God, you are stunning,” the woman said as she started slipping off her top.

Sophie took that as her opening and ran for it.  The two were hot on her heels, not wanting to give away their claim of ownership.  This was one time where Sophie was so glad she had her tennis shoes on and not heels.  As she stumbled through the dirt, she realized she had no idea where she was.  Both people were still stalking her.  Seeing a building up ahead, she quietly opened the door and promptly tripped over something in the darkness. Not wanting to make any noise, she looked out the window to see her two pursuers almost naked and wanting her.

“You know, that really hurt.”

Sophie put her hand over her mouth so they wouldn’t hear her squeal of shock at the voice down on the floor. Nate’s head popped up to look out the window too at what she was looking at.

“Oh, did they just?  Really?  Out in the open like that?”

Nate turned his head sideways as he watched the couple strip the rest of their clothes off and start groping each other in places that no one else should have seen.  Pulling him back down so that the couple didn’t see Nate, she breathed a sigh of relief.  Then she noticed the laundry machines going.

“Why didn’t you come back?”

“I knew that Hardison was gonna kill me if I didn’t finish.”

“We’ve been looking for you.”

“Apparently so have they.  What on earth did you do?”

“Me?”

“I heard them.  They were calling your name.”

“I did nothing.  I was looking for you, by the way.  I asked them if they’d seen you.  They took me back to their party. That’s when I realized that Eliot booked the camping spot in a swinger’s paradise.”

Nate snorted at that, attempting to not laugh.  “Oh boy.”

“Those two propositioned me, then chased me when I said no.  I told them I had a boyfriend.  They asked if you wanted to join in.”

“Join in?  Why?  Oh.  Good call.”

“How much longer?” Sophie asked as they sat on the floor of the laundry room.

“What do you mean how much longer?  I am not looking out the window again.”

“The laundry, you idiot.”

“Oh, twenty minutes.  Just went in the dryer.”

Both crawled back over to the window to peek out.  The couple was still there, now on one of the picnic tables, going at it like no one was watching.

“She’s gonna have splinters.”

“Nate,” Sophie growled, slapping him on the arm.

“We’ve done it in some strange places, but that is not on my list.”

Sophie laughed a bit at what he said, then pulled him down again so that the swingers wouldn’t see them hiding.  Sophie could hear them off in the distance, clearly not trying to cover up their amorous adventures.

“And here I thought we were inventive.”

“Well, we can hold our own.  Where’s a soft bed when you need one?”

“Nate,” Sophie started, looking into his eyes, “is everything OK?  I mean, do you like what we do?”

“Oh course I do,” he said.

“I love it when it’s just us and it’s a rainy afternoon, no case, no teammates, no clothes.”

“I know that doesn’t happen very often.  After this case, let’s go away somewhere, for the weekend, just the two of us.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Sophie tipped her head up, still hearing the two go at it.

“This is lasting way too long.”

“Seventeen minutes.”

Sophie bit her lip as she looked into Nate’s eyes.

“What?”

“I have an idea.”

“Better hurry.”

“If we have to be here, let’s take advantage of it.”

Nate scurried around, ducking here and there and gathered up several comforters that had been washed, laying them out on the concrete to form a nice, soft bed for the two of them.  Clicking the lock in place, he crawled over to Sophie and took her hand in his.

“More laundry to do.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Please tell me that the soundtrack is not what’s making you do this?”

“Them?  Oh hell no.”

The sounds gradually went away until there was a shout and an oh yeah.

“Looks like they are finally done.”

“Fourteen minutes.”

Sophie’s cotton top and shorts didn’t last very long since Nate knew he was working on borrowed time.  The white underwear and bra she had on literally glowed in the darkness, making Nate groan as he buried his head in her cleavage. Throwing his clothes off to the side, he laid down between her thighs.

“Eager, aren’t we?” she whispered in his ear as he pressed down.  “So hot.”

As she wrapped her legs around him, she hoped that he’d soon help her be rid of the rest of her clothes, but as he slid back and forth against her, the tease had almost gotten to be too much. With his teeth, he pulled down her bra strap, scrapping his scruffiness against her breast as he did so.  As she slid her fingers down his back, she urged him forward once she reached and grabbed his ass so that he knew he had to hurry.

“Ten minutes,” she managed to get out as his tongue rasped against her.

It didn’t take him long to figure out she wasn’t going to last very much longer with what he was doing with the movement of his hips.  As he hitched her underwear off, he showed her in his fingers what he’d brought along.

“Where did you get that?”

“Stole it from your bag from the drugstore.”

“You just assumed.”

“Oh god, Sophie.  With you, I never assume.  I know.”

“Bastard.”

“And since you weren’t sure about being doubly protected, I wanted to be doubly sure.”

“You?  How did you?”

“You were sick two weeks ago.  Those antibiotics.”

“And I forgot to take the damn pill day before yesterday.  You are gonna pay.”

“Maybe later,” he declared as he slid home, Sophie groaning out his name as he did.

“Six minutes.”

“Harder,” she cried.

That urged him on to go faster and a bit harder, pulling her knees up.

“Yes, right there, Nate. That’s, yes.”

Nate muffled her cries with his mouth as she went over the edge, him pounding into her until his little shout of Sophie spilled out.

“Sort of a bed.”


	17. Hardison Surprises Parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens if comms are left in? It had to happen sometime. Hardison is really a giving person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More difficult to write Hardison and Parker together. Not sure why.

Chapter Seventeen—Hardison Surprises Parker

Both ripped their comms out.

“More damn laundry.”

“Sophie didn’t take her comm out.”

“We did not just listen to that, now did we?”

“And under no circumstances we will ever tell them we did.”

“Uh uh, oh hell no.  I don’t want to die an early death by Sophie, thank you very much.”

“They didn’t take their comms out,” Hardison heard Eliot grumble as he slammed the door to the motorhome.

Hardison could see that Eliot was pissed beyond belief, but what he didn’t know was why his shirt was ripped and his pants were half off.

“Ok, so yeah.  Only Sophie’s comm.  Totally legit.  You, on the other hand, what happened?” Hardison asked.

“I was assaulted.  The hands were everywhere.”

“Did ya get any, Sparky?”

“Parker.”

“Just asking.  For you know, research.”

“Do you two live vicariously through other people’s lives?  Oh wait, Hardison does.  Just stop it.”

“I’m not the one who did not look to see where he was booking a spot for the night, now am I?  Oh no he didn’t.”

“At least your sheets will be clean,” Parker mentioned.

“There is that.”

“I don’t get it.  These people were like having sex in public.  What in hell would possess someone to do that?  Even Sophie and Nate are a bit more discreet than that.”

“Get’s people off, Parker.”

“Off of what?  Oh, oops.  Answered my own question.”

Eliot yanked his pants up, scowling their way.

“Let them run the gauntlet.  I am not going back out there again until morning.”

“You could have had fun?”

“Parker, I could also not want an audience.  So what were you two up to while we were looking?”

“Nuthin’.”

“Oh, dammit, you two.  Nate and Sophie are a bad influence.”

“He doesn’t believe us,” Hardison said as he took Parker’s hand in his.

He didn’t want to tell Eliot that only Parker was satisfied and that he probably wasn’t going to get any, but the hitter’s sensibilities might shatter if that was said.

Twenty minutes before—

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Parker said as Hardison had taken her hand.

Sophie and Eliot had left more than ten minutes before.

“I told Nate not to come back until all the laundry was done.  I think I reminded him about renewing NFL Red Zone.  Football, baby.”

“Men.  I just don’t get men, tackling, touching, hands everywhere, all sweaty. Muscles.”

Hardison did not believe what was coming out of Parker’s mouth.  It sounded more like Sophie, but who was he to complain.

“You like hot, sweaty men?”

“Nah.  Just wanted to see if you thought I did,” she snickered.  “I like you.”

“Yeah,” he said as he backed her into the bedroom.

“They’re coming back soon,” she whispered as he pushed the door shut.

This room had seen more action than most couples did in a year.  It took less than ten minutes for Parker to squeal in delight, face red.

“How did you, where did you…”

“I have lots of surprises.”

“Hey, why don’t I surprise you?”

Parker pushed him down on the bed, straddling his middle.

“Eliot’s coming.”

“What?  He’s what?” Hardison asked as she moved off of him quickly. “Dammit, Eliot.”


	18. Nate's An Idiot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate really doesn't know how to deal with Sophie sometimes.

Chapter Eighteen—Nate’s an Idiot

The place looked like a battle zone the next morning.  Peeking out the blinds, Nate wondered if it was safe to go out.  There was no one about though.  Sophie was snuggled up against him, trying not to fall off the bed.  It was like college again, sleeping for two on a twin, even though the dinette was supposed to be a queen.  Eliot was noisy too, groaning in his sleep in the bunk that was over the cab in the front.  The damn bed had been taken by Hardison and Parker again. 

Slipping out of bed, he almost stepped on Parker, who had somehow deposited herself on the floor in the middle of the night.  She was out like a light though.  Grabbing his stuff, he quietly made his way outside and to the showers. Good to be out of the four’s reach at least for a few minutes.  Sometimes he wondered why they all stayed together, getting on each other’s nerves, arguing, always in each other’s way.

The hot water felt good on his neck and back as he worked out the kinks in them from sleeping on the foam that was too damn hard to sleep on.  The bed he’d made last night for him and Sophie had been softer.  Damn, he was getting too old for this shit.

A towel flew over the stall door, but luckily didn’t fall into the water.

“Sophie said you forgot your towel,” Eliot’s voice in the distance said.

“Yeah.”

And here he thought his brain could wake up and figure out what in hell he was going to do.

“Nate?”

“What?”

“Breakfast in ten.”

“Yeah.”

Eliot showered quickly and left before Nate had even washed his hair. Must be the fact that Nate hadn’t moved a muscle, letting the hot water slide over him, thinking about Sophie and what they’d been doing for the past few weeks.

It went from a few late nights, with both of them frantic with need and her leaving as soon as it was over, to dinners and more frantic sex.  There had been a day or two where they’d actually been lazy and had sex in a bed, several times.  Their schedules rarely included downtime.  And the fact that the team was always around.  Late at night seemed to be their go to time or early in the morning before Eliot arrived.  It had only been a few weeks since they’d decided that they could go off whenever, hold hands during team meetings and actually spending most, if not all, their time together.  Were they attempting to make up for lost time?  It had been at least a decade of them circling each other. 

He’d had more raging hard ons in the past few years than he would ever admit, to anyone.  With Sophie around all the time, the way she walked, smiled, smelled, he wondered how he’d held out for as long as he did.  Now he couldn’t get enough of her. And it seemed, she couldn’t get enough of him.  It had never been like this for him with anyone, including Maggie.

Sure, he told her that he loved her, but he had to be sure it just wasn’t for the sex.  He certainly didn’t want to mention how much she wanted his body.  He wasn’t Eliot or Hardison, so he really didn’t see what she saw in him other than the fact they’d known each other forever.  What he was sure of was the fact that she was enjoying herself, immensely.  Nate didn’t think he could keep up in the end.

Calming himself, he finished the shower, using the towel that smelled like Sophie, and briskly dried his hair.  It took a bit of time to dress since he was attempting to not get his clothes wet again.  As he opened the door to the stall, the man from last night was directly in front of him.

“Morning,” the man groaned, walking into the shower like a zombie.

The man’s hair stood on end, his shirt was not buttoned correctly and his pants weren’t zipped.  He looked like he’d been sucked dry.  Nate almost laughed because he’d seen some of the action the man had been involved in.

“Rough night?”

“Women,” the man answered, none too pleased.

“Gotta love ‘em.”

The man laughed a bit manically, then shut the shower door.  Nate guessed that whatever had happened after the sex on the table didn’t go well for him.  Or possibly there were splinters involved.  Walking out, he squinted at the rising sun off in the distance.  There weren’t many others out and about this early.  He wouldn’t even have been if it hadn’t been for the strange sleeping arrangements.  He’d sleep on the way there, he thought.  Off in the distance, he recognized the other part of the couple from last night.  She was wildly gesturing to another man at the door of an RV. 

“Huh,” he thought aloud.

Maybe they were all swingers or whatever they called themselves now.  Nate had all he could handle with Sophie.  Why would someone want to switch partners?  The woman slapped the man on the arm quickly, then walked away, crossing her arms over her chest as she did.

As he opened the door to the motorhome, he watched as Parker sat up at the dinette, the bed from last night put away apparently.  Sophie was nowhere to be seen.  It seemed that Parker was sitting there sleeping, without falling over.

“Sophie?”

“Shower.  Parker, wake up.”

“I’m awake.  Yeah.  Totally awake.”

Nate grabbed his coffee cup and went outside so he could avoid Parker.  Without the alcohol, the coffee didn’t taste right, but he didn’t want to face Eliot’s wrath right at that moment.  He watched as Sophie approached, stuff in hand.

“Thanks for the towel.”

“Yeah.”

“Beautiful morning.”

“Don’t be so damn chipper, Nate.”

“You want me to be chipper?  Tell Eliot that I need my damn whiskey. Then I can be as chipper as you want me to be.”

“Fuck you.”

And that’s how Nate found out that Sophie got up on the wrong side of the bed. 

“What the hell is your problem?”

“Problem? Does it look like I have a problem?”

Oh great, he thought.  When she dropped her voice down low, he knew he should be in trouble.  Approaching him, she leaned over the chair he was sitting in, close enough to kiss him if she wanted.  That was not what she wanted, he surmised.  She might just try to snap his neck.

“You tell me?”

“I hate you, you bastard.”

“So now you’ve said it. That’s the way you really feel?”

“Nate, right now I don’t know if I even want to be in the same country as you.”

“What did I do?”

“Do?  What did you do?” she repeated, looking a little perplexed.  “Um.”

“Maybe you need some caffeine,” he offered sarcastically.

“Maybe you need to shut it.”

He really did not know what he did other than ask a simple question.  As she leaned over, looking ready to strangle him, he smelled her clean smell; the shampoo that she used, the toothpaste, the fact that she hadn’t brushed her hair yet, making it all curly and wild.  Her eyes were dark and a bit foreboding, the wind twirling her hair around her almost like she was a nymph or Medusa. One look might turn him to stone.  Only he couldn’t stop looking into her eyes, and then noticing the tears that were starting to form.

“Soph?” he whispered to her.

And he thought that he’d never look like that man in the shower.  Before he could move, her lips came down, licked, bit and literally sucked him dry until all he could do was stare up at her when she stopped.

“I hate being a girl sometimes.”  And she was off with a flourish.

“I like that you’re a girl?” but she didn’t hear him.  Now what had he done?


	19. Eliot Is Not An Idiot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliot knows when to stay away from Sophie.

Chapter Nineteen—Eliot Is Not an Idiot

Jesus fucking Christ, Eliot thought, but didn’t say it out loud because it wouldn’t be right this early in the morning. Sophie sat, tears in her eyes, probably because of the asshole on the other side of the door.  Why’d he have to be friends with men who knew nothing about women?

As he set Sophie’s tea in front of her, she nodded her thanks. Parker rubbed Sophie’s head a little, but didn’t get too near.  There was some solidarity between the two women, but Parker obviously knew when to not push.  Hardison had luckily picked up on it all and avoided the situation like the plague.

“Hungry?”

“I feel like crap,” Sophie announced.

Parker grimaced behind Sophie, showing Eliot that he better play it safe.

“Hope it’s something nice and greasy.  Bacon?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Hardison made a face behind Sophie like yeah, you better make sure she gets what she wants.  Before Sophie turned around, his face became neutral again.  Nate trudged back in, pushed a cabinet open and didn’t take just a splash of alcohol, he filled it half full before he stopped pouring.  What surprised Eliot the most was Sophie grabbed the bottle and poured a bit into her tea, daring Nate to say anything about it.

Parker made an eww face, Hardison acted like he was going to throw up a little, and Nate just looked curious.  Sure, he didn’t get it.  Eliot figured it out quickly, but wouldn’t tell Nate unless specifically asked.  Going back to cooking, he watched as Sophie’s back became straighter, her tears dried up, and her sips from her drink were more ladylike.  Who was she becoming?  Eliot had no idea.  He didn’t want to be around when everyone found out.

He served breakfast so he could eat quickly and clean everything up.  Before he could focus on that, both Hardison and Parker whisked everything away.  He nodded his thanks, hoping that they could get out of there before anything else happened.

“Ok, darlin’?” he asked Sophie.

“Absolutely, Eliot.”

Oh holy shit, Eliot thought.  He’d rather she told him to fuck off though.  Would make it easier.  Nate sprawled out on the couch as he watched what was going on.  Eliot had no sympathy for the man.  He’d get what was coming to him.  He might even get his balls handed to him on a silver platter.


	20. Parker and Hardison Tell Each Other Everyone’s Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Hardison and Parker realize they live in a soap opera world.

Chapter Twenty—Parker and Hardison Tell Each Other Everyone’s Business

“What the hell has gotten all up in Sophie’s crawl this morning?” Hardison asked as they took the trash out for Eliot before they left.

“That was kinda scary, if you ask me.”

“What did Nate say to her?”

“Uh, nothing.  Here’s what I know:  Sophie is all pissed off at him because they’ve been going at it like bunnies, but Nate’s all you have to take care of shit because he doesn’t want any little Nate’s running around.  You know that story.  So Sophie took those antibiotics when she was sick two weeks ago, got all worried that her pills weren’t working so hot, so she’s been careful, only he hasn’t so much.  So they did it once without backup, so Sophie bought one of those morning after pills, which probably worked since it was the morning after.  So now that’s done, now her time of the month came early and she’s pissed because she’s sure the pill did that and she hates him.  Or loves him.  Or whatever.”

“What? We live in a soap opera.  Is this how normal people live?” Hardison asked.

“Yeah.  Pretty much.”

“Let’s not be normal, mamma.”

“Me? Normal?”

“You got me there.”

“How you doin’?”

“Hey, you know me.”

Parker didn’t think he always knew what she was thinking, but maybe that’s why it was working as well as it was.  He didn’t know her really well.  They were learning each other, what they liked and disliked, how to act around each other.  Nate and Sophie had known each other for so long, and still couldn’t figure out each other’s signals.  Well, those kinds of signals.  If they were on a con, they communicated without words better than anyone.  Feelings, not so much.

“No, tell me.  See, Parker.  I’m not a mind reader. Even Nate can’t read Sophie.  We’re different.  And that’s great.  I love that we’re different.  You need to know something, you ask.”

“Will you still love me even if I have to do that girly stuff?”

“What girly stuff?  Oh, that girly stuff.  Sure.  I like your girly stuff.”

Parker smiled at him.  He was just so easy going, not wanting to rock the boat between the two of them.

“We just better stay out of Sophie’s way.  Be nice to her.  I’m getting her chocolate when we get back in there.  Hey, maybe I’ll pass it to Nate and let him give it to her?”

“Could work.  Can you do that?”

“If I can steal things without any of you noticing, I think I can get some chocolate to Nate without Sophie seeing me.”

“Right you are.”

And Parker was right as she made the drop, startling Nate, but moving her head in Sophie’s direction so that Nate understood that he actually needed to give Sophie the treat instead of looking at her strangely.  It wasn’t as romantic as Parker had envisioned, but Nate handled it OK, with Sophie not realizing it was all Parker’s doing.  A few tears escaped as Sophie opened the chocolate, Nate pleased with himself. He kissed her knuckles afterward, making Sophie blubber some more.

“Nate does not deal with tears very well,” Parker told Hardison as she drove the RV along the interstate.

“Yeah, well, there aren’t very many men that can.”

“You?”

“Depends.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“Depends.”

“OK.”

“Parker, men don’t like seeing their women in pain or sad or whatever. Makes ‘em feel like they’ve inflicted the pain. And also, makes them very uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, Nate didn’t know what to do when that shyster ran his game on me.  Although he was kinda sweet explaining to me why it was a cold read instead of some kind of mind reading.”

“If it had been Sophie, he would have been an utter mess.”

“Thanks,” Parker finally said.  “I really appreciate what you did on that one.  It was hard.”

“And not fair to you, at all.  If I could have crushed that guy, I would have.”

“Nate didn’t want Eliot to kill him.”

“We both considered it.”

Parker felt a tear or two well up, but she managed to blow it out and make sure that Hardison didn’t see that she was still upset about that incident.

“I haven’t forgotten about last night,” Parker started.

Hardison had taken that moment to take a drink of his soda and almost couldn’t breathe after.

“It’s OK, Parker,” he choked out.  “It was my pleasure.  Sometimes things like that will happen.”

“Considering we kept getting interrupted.  What must it be like to be Nate and Sophie?  We’re in their business all the time, hanging out at Nate’s place.  Now I understand.  We need to give them some space.”

“That’s very adult of you, Parker.”

“Besides, I really don’t want to walk in on them without clothes.  Geez.”

Hardison looked away from her, like he had a secret.

“You didn’t.”

“Hey, not my fault.  They don’t know.  I practically ran when I saw it, which was not much, by the way.  Mostly Sophie.”

“What?”

“Well, yeah.  Thank god it wasn’t Nate.”

Now Parker was a bit jealous. Sure, they’d all seen her without most of her clothes for one con or another, but none of them had seen Sophie, unless you were Nate. Even Parker hadn’t seen most of Sophie.

“Is she hot?  I mean, um,” Parker mumbled.

“Parker, you are just as lovely.  I didn’t even get that good a look.  I was too busy trying to get the hell out of there so they didn’t notice I opened the door.  They were busy, OK?”

“Busy?  Oh. Kind of like last night.”

“We know way too much about this team for our own good.”

“You got that right.”


	21. Sophie and Eliot Discuss Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie gives Eliot some advice.

Chapter Twenty-One—Sophie and Eliot Discuss Life

Sophie couldn’t wait to get to Eliot’s sister’s house so she could take a decent nap.  She really didn’t care what Nate said, that they needed to refine their plan.  It was naptime for her.  The movement of the motorhome just wasn’t doing it for her.  Nate didn’t seem to mind, sprawled out on the sofa without a care in the world.

He was sweet.  That wasn’t a word she’d usually use in his presence because he usually was an asshole.  There were times when he bought her favorite dinner or bought her favorite wine to have in the refrigerator.  There were times when he’d rub her back, to relieve the tension building from a con.  There were even times where he managed to save her life, which in her book, probably counted the most out of all the things he had done for her. He wasn’t good at the simple things, the smaller things that made a couple what they were.  And he gloated.  Damn, did he gloat when he figured out something about her?

The alcohol had deadened the pain in her insides just a little.  It wasn’t his fault that she felt so awful, but with her hormones so out of whack, he certainly was the target.  She’d apologize once she was feeling up to it. 

“More?” Eliot gestured to the bottle sitting on the table.  She shook her head no.

Catching it before it fell off because of Parker’s driving, he put it away.  As he sat down, he placed another piece of chocolate down on the table in front of her, almost like a peace offering.

“Oh bloody hell, Eliot.  I’m not going to bite your head off.”

“Sure about that?”

“Yes, I’m certain.”

“Thought that was gonna happen to Nate there for a minute.”

“Probably deserved it.”

Sophie opened up the wrapper and chewed on the piece.  It tasted wonderful.  She’d have to thank Parker later for buying them.

“You ready to pull off this job?”

That was the first time anyone had mentioned that was why they were traveling together in a motorhome.  Was that a good thing or a bad thing that all of them could forget about planning and implementing a con?  She and Nate had studied, that was for certain. 

“I hope so.”

“You gonna be OK?”

“Yes, Eliot.  It’s only for a few days.  Blasted cramps.”

“Remember what I said?”

“About the antibiotics?  Of course.  That’s why I was careful.”

Why was it that Eliot didn’t get embarrassed when talking about medical stuff or women stuff and the others did?  Was it the fact that he acted like their medic, had cleaned their wounds, had doctored them when needed?  When he had suggested that Sophie actually go to a doctor for the cough that would not go away, he had taken her through what could be wrong with her, but wanted a real doctor to make sure.  The antibiotics finally cleared up what could have become pneumonia.  Nate had been grateful to Eliot for her feeling better. Eliot was always looking out for her.  Now she needed to look out for him.

“Do you feel like you’re intruding sometimes?”

The look on Eliot’s face said it all.  He probably did not want to have this conversation with her.  It needed to be said, even if he didn’t want it to be said.

“Intruding?”

“Since we’ve all coupled up now, do you feel like you’re intruding?”

“Not really.”

“We worry about you.”

“You worry about me.  Nate doesn’t give a shit other than to make sure I can punch stuff.  Hardison, maybe he does sometimes.  I can’t tell with Parker at all.”

“We all do, even if Nate cannot share his almost nonexistent feelings, it’s there.”

“Ok, thanks.”

He was going to bail on her, but there wasn’t any place to go.

“Just sit down.  I’m not done.”

It came out a little harsher than she had wanted, but sometimes she had to put her foot down and make sure that each of them was in a good place.  That was her job.

“Ok,” Eliot dragged it out, ending it by plopping back down across from her.

“We have been in each other’s spaces a little too much lately.  Once we’re done here, I suggest we all take a nice vacation, not together of course.”

“Yeah, OK.”

“Eliot, you’re not listening.  When I mean take a vacation, I mean not taking an outside job.  You need some downtime.  Is it possible to stay with your sister?  Meet up with friends?”

“If you say find a girl, I may just hurl.”

“I know you don’t need our help on that front.  You deserve…”

“I deserve?  Soph, I don’t really deserve much of anything.  Sure, I like spending time with women.  I don’t lead them on, let them think that there’s a chance, a chance at a life with me.”

Eliot’s voice hitched half way through his declaration.  It made Sophie really sad that he thought he wasn’t worth being in a relationship.

“Your past should not define you.”

“But it does.  There’s nothing I can do to change that.  Maybe one day, possibly, it won’t.  I doubt it.  I can’t, won’t put someone else in danger, of me, or of someone that could…”

“But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.  I told Parker once, when she was having problems opening up to Hardison that this life is not worth living without the people that make us want to tear down those walls. The thrill of vulnerability, the danger of opening your heart, it makes us feel alive. I feel that sometimes you’re not living, just going through the motions.  Even if you’re doing something that you love, like cooking, you can’t just keep going through the motions anymore, Eliot.  We care about you.  There has to be one other person on this planet that you can let in.”

“What if it’s too dangerous?”

“You mean, what if it makes you too vulnerable?  That’s already happened.  You let us in, didn’t you?”

Sophie could see Eliot’s frustration clearly on his face. 

“This is just, um, scary, you know.”

“Oh do I know.  Look at that man over there.  Now that is scary.  My drunk, narcissistic asshole.”

“You know, you’re only one if you don’t know it.  He admits it, fully.”

“Don’t defend him.”

“Hey, he gave you chocolate.”

“Chocolate that Parker literally dropped in his lap so that he could give it to me.”

“Oh, so you saw that?” Eliot smiled.

“Of course.  But still.  He wants to try.  I feel that at some point, so will you.”

“Maybe.  At some point.  You could have picked an easier target?”

“Don’t I know it.  He’s kinda cute sleeping.”

“Oh god,” Eliot moaned.  “Still an asshole.  Too damn smart for his own good.”

“Yeah, there is that.”


	22. The Team’s Introduction to Oklahoma (P.S. Aimee’s Back)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introductions to Eliot's family. And Aimee's there. Oh boy.

Chapter Twenty-Two—The Team’s Introduction to Oklahoma (P.S. Aimee’s Back)

“Oh my god,” Parker wanted to shout, but it came out as a whisper when she saw what was directly in front of her.

“You, you don’t suppose,” Hardison continued.

“Well, well.” Sophie had a smirk on her face.

“Huh,” was all Nate could contribute.

All Eliot could do was growl.  He thought that coming home would be difficult.  He didn’t realize how difficult until whom he saw standing directly in front of him, leading a horse out of the barn.

“Son of a bitch,” Eliot got out until Parker and Sophie both attempted to stop him with hands to his mouth at the same time.  “Will you two stop it?”

“Just tryin’ to help,” Parker said as she took her hand away quickly.  “No biting.”

“This changes things,” Hardison said as he turned his head to Eliot.

“Changes nothing.  Absolutely fucking nothing.  Do you hear me?”

“Oh yeah, we all hear you, Spencer.”

Aimee. What?  Where?  Why? It all sprang to mind as he stared at her hard.  She was not supposed to be there, at his sister’s house, at all.  She was supposed to be in Kentucky, helping out her father with those damn horses.

Before he could open his mouth again, his sister heard all the commotion and came running out the door to the house, with his nephew slowly tagging along.  Mary Beth slammed into him, almost taking him to the ground if he hadn’t been ready for it.  Pulling herself back, she then patted him, looking at his longer hair, generally checking him over, just like she always had when they were younger.

“Oh, look at you.  With the hair and the scowl, and the scars.  You didn’t have as many the last time you came.”

“Yeah, well, blame them,” Eliot said as he pointed behind him.

“So you must be Eliot’s friends.”

“That we are,” Hardison started, introducing himself.

Sophie came next, then Nate and finally Parker.  Parker patted Mary Beth almost like she did Maggie, not knowing what to do with family members, or ex family members in Maggie’s case.  It was a little awkward, but Mary Beth took it in stride.

“Not what I envisioned.  You seemed to run with a rougher crowd back then.”

“Yeah, don’t let their appearances fool you.  They’re good people, Mar.”

“So I’ve heard.  From Aimee too.”

He noticed his nephew hanging back, almost like he didn’t want to be noticed.  The last time he’d seen the boy was when he was tiny, right after he’d been born.  He must be close to ten if not older.  He looked so much like Eliot when he was that age.  It was kind of scary.

“Hey, kid.  I’m your Uncle Eliot.”  Eliot put his hand out for the boy to shake. 

After a small shake, the boy took off, flying past Aimee and into the fields beyond, feet moving much faster than Eliot remembered his own moving.

“And now you’re scaring little kids,” Aimee stated, then led the horse into the stables.

“Thanks, Aim.  Appreciate it,” he shouted back, voice full of sarcasm.

“Come on in, everyone.  Let me get you something to drink.”

As they all sat down at the dining room table, it was just as Eliot remembered.  He’d spent plenty of time at this table, eating with his sister and her husband, right after he’d come back from his stint in the armed forces.  Only it hadn’t been a pleasant time for him, causing tension between Mary Beth and her then husband.  It didn’t surprise him when the guy bailed on her later, not long after his nephew was born.  Eliot never trusted the guy.

“Probably wondering why Aimee is here?”

“Not my business.”

“Ok, one, your business.  Two, you need to ask.  Three, you have to go visit Pops while you’re here.”

None of those sounded like solid options to him at all.  As he helped Mary Beth set down lemonade for everyone, he gripped his glass a little too tightly, making Sophie frown at him to stop.

“So, we appreciate your hospitality, Ms., um,” Nate started.

“Mary Beth. Just call me Mary Beth.  I sure ain’t Ms. Spencer. Sounds too strange, unless you’re one of Robbie’s friends.  But you’re not ten.”

“Sometime acts like he is though,” Sophie whispered to Eliot to help break the tension.

Nate eyed Sophie for a minute until Mary Beth broke the silence in the room.

“Ok, so how long y’all staying?”

“Hope not more than a week, maybe ten days.  We won’t be in your hair.”

“What?  I want to visit with you, Eliot.  You definitely won’t be in my hair.  Besides, I want to get to know your friends.”

Hardison smiled a big smile while Parker looked a little suspicious. Everyone downed their drinks fast, thanking Mary Beth for the lemonade.  As they filed out of the house, Eliot pulled Mary Beth aside to make sure that the sleeping arrangements would work.  With Aimee there, he didn’t know what was going to happen.

“Yeah, so, we kinda have an issue.”

“Oh lordy, Eliot.  I wasn’t born yesterday. You’re all adults.  As I said on the phone, the suite in the barn is made up and ready.  I can bunk with Robbie.”

“No, we have the RV.  A couple folks can stay in there.  I can hook it up and it’ll be good to go.  Robbie and I can bunk together since Aimee is here.”

“She’s staying in the barn in the tack room.  Cleared it all out, made it homey.  It works. There’s showers connected.  Makes me wonder if I should rent that out on special occasions too.  Lord knows I need the money.”

“Don’t worry about that.  We are renting the whole place.”

“And I will hear nothing of it.”

“Listen, the barn, the rooms.  We’re rentin’ it all out.”

“Just because you’re paying for Robbie’s education, doesn’t mean you can come in here and boss me around.”

“Hey, you’re the bossy one here, not me.”

Mary Beth laughed at that, knowing that in the end, she almost always got her way.  His sister had a lot of pride, not wanting any help at first, when her ex left them high and dry.  Over the years, he’d helped out when she’d let him, which included buying the property outright for her and fixing anything that was major around the farm and with the horses.  Their latest venture was the barn and its money making scheme.

“You haven’t seen it yet, have you?”

“Oh, only the pictures you sent.”

“I hope your friends don’t mind staying there.  There’s a wedding scheduled for this Saturday.  I couldn’t cancel that, so I hope that’s OK.”

“We’ll be pretty busy, so no.”

“Come on everybody.”

Parker hesitated when she saw Mary Beth headed toward the barn, which was recently painted red.  Eliot took her arm and led her over to the doors.

“Parker, this is not the barn that stores the horses.  It’s down that way, so they’re not near the guests.  You don’t have to go anywhere near the other barn, got it?”

Parker swiveled her head around sharply.  “Seriously?”

“Yeah.  No horses in this barn.”

As Eliot flung the doors open, he realized what his sister had done with the place.  It was almost magical.

“Oh my,” Sophie commented.

“Huh,” Nate finished, earning him a slap from Sophie.

“Oh, cool.  DJ stand and all.  This is dope.”

“A lot better than that other wedding we threw.  That mobster didn’t know what hit him,” Parker cried out, making Mary Beth look at her strangely.

“Case we were working on.  Don’t worry.”

“I worry, Eliot.  I definitely worry. I still don’t understand what you do.”

“It’s all good.”

“Bad guys make the best good guys,” Parker murmured as she walked around the place.

“Oh, this is very lovely.  Quaint.  You put on weddings and such?” Sophie asked.

“Mostly.  We’ve had a few meetings by corporations wanting the authentic experience, but mostly weddings.  Has that country feel.”

“Very nice,” Sophie concluded, walking around to admire everything.

Eliot watched as Nate’s eyes became wider and wider, like he did not like what Sophie was doing at all.  He was sure that Sophie wasn’t getting any ideas, but Nate definitely was and didn’t like it.

“The room is upstairs and to your left.  That was the hardest to get right.  You oughta see it though.  I think I did a great job on it.”

Eliot left Hardison and Parker to explore the downstairs so he could show Nate and Sophie where they were staying.

“At least I don’t have to do the laundry,” Nate mumbled.

“Yeah, you do,” Eliot corrected him.  “Ain’t nobody waitin’ on your sorry ass.”

“Not a problem, Eliot.”

Nate backed away, which Eliot was sort of not sorry for because he was tired and hungry.  Nate nodded his way, like he understood that and wanted Eliot to know.  When he opened the door to the room, then he understood why Mary Beth was so proud of what she’d done.

“Damn, that girl is good,” he mentioned as Sophie ooh’d and ahh’d.

“She really does have a knack for this, Eliot.”

“She’s gonna do a few more rooms on the other side.  I think she said she was almost done with those too.”

“You must be very proud of her.  Independent businesswoman, runs a farm too.”

“Don’t know how she does it all.”

After coming back downstairs, he noticed Hardison smiling his way.

“Man, this would be so much fun to DJ.  Look at that sound system.”

“I know, man.  I picked it out.”

“Hey, I know some upgrades.  Just, just let me work.  Won’t cost you a cent.  Placement of the speakers.  That’s all it is.”

Mary Beth laughed their way, pointing to the other rooms.

“Hey, if y’all don’t wanna stay in the RV, you can bunk in the other rooms.  They’re not painted, but the furniture is in there.  You just have to put the bed together.  I was gonna get Frank to do that tomorrow, but it can wait.  The painting can wait too.”

When all was agreed on the sleeping arrangements, the others grabbed their things and made their way over to the barn.

“I thought there’d be horses,” Parker told Mary Beth as they re-entered the barn.

“Outside entrances to all the rooms.  Here’s the keys. Now Saturday is the wedding, but it’s in the evening, I think around 5pm.  Should be all over around 11pm at the latest.  There’s ordinances governing that, so it’ll be done, believe me.”

They all shook their heads and thanked Mary Beth for her hospitality.

“Ok, Eliot, how come your sister is so nice?” Hardison started, trying to get a rise out of the hitter.

“I’m nice, but not to you.”

“Yeah, right.  You’re nice,” he heard Aimee say as she came into the barn.

“With the right person,” he said right back.

Sophie steered Nate up the stairs while Parker grabbed Hardison’s arm to steer him to the opposite side, bouncing up and down as she did, whispering in his ear.

“What are you doing here?”

“Working.”

“I can tell that.  How’s your father?”

“Remarried.”

“Oh.  So…”

“I didn’t get thrown out, if that’s what you’re asking.  We had a little fight is all.  I just came to cool off.”

“Mary Beth said you’ve been here for two months.”

“Yeah, well, it takes me time to cool off.  Kinda feel like he doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Doesn’t need you?”

“His so-called wife is a horsewoman, just like me.  She started taking stuff over, little by little.”

“Then take it back.”

“Oh, you are such an asshole.”

With that Aimee turned and started to leave.

“Aimee, wait, Ok, just wait.”

He stopped her at the entrance.  The sun had started to set over the horizon, looking like it was setting her hair aflame.  The way she stood there, defiant, ready to fight with him, was like old times.  They’d walked away from each other the second time with no regrets.  Now he was wondering if he’d had just a little, but then, three years ago, he wasn’t ready for anything and he was sure he wasn’t ready now.  Was he?  Damn Sophie and her wisdom.

“So, we gotta be here, together for the next few weeks. You gonna be OK with that?”

“Sure.  Not a problem.  Do you have a problem with that?”

“Nah.  They’ve been driving me up the wall recently.  Be nice to have someone else around, who, you know, understands.”

“Understands what?”

“Just stuff.”

“You?”

“No, just stuff.”

“OK, whatever.  Robbie probably will want to spend some time with you, get to know you.  He’s good with horses.”

“Yeah, Mary Beth sent pictures.”

“He’s a good kid.  Going through some growing pains right now.  His dad, well, he stopped by a few weeks ago, wantin’ to see Robbie. Robbie refused. He hadn’t been around in forever.”

“Mary Beth failed to mention that.”

“From what I could tell, there was talk of him getting half custody or something like that.  He’s gotta new wife and more kids.  I just, I didn’t like what was going on at all.  You may wanna check up on it.”

“You better believe that I will.”

“Robbie needs some male role models.  Sure, I mean, Mary Beth has ranch hands, but it’s not the same.”

“Thanks.  For looking out for them.  I appreciate it.”

“Mary Beth gave me a place to stay.”

“In the tack room?”

“Hey, I’m close to the horses.  It’s cozy.”

“And it doesn’t smell like horses?” he teased her back.

“Absolutely not.”

“Yeah, right.”

Aimee smiled at him as she walked away.  This was going to be a long two weeks in his mind.  His crew was out of their minds with love and lust, he was tired and angry, and now Aimee was there to complicate it beyond belief. Maybe Sophie was right. He needed a vacation, maybe fishing, camping, alone.


	23. Nate Thinks Too Much, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate realizes that there needed to be some changes in his life.

Chapter Twenty-Three—Nate Thinks Too Much, Again

Nate watched as Sophie collapsed on the bed, kicking off her shoes as she did.  She curled up, and sighed as she closed her eyes.  They were alone, finally.  No teammates, no weird people, no swingers.  At least the room didn’t smell like a barn.

“Nate, if you’re not going to take a nap, then go away,” Sophie mumbled into the pillow.

“I just, um, feeling better?”

“A little.  I’m exhausted.”

Lying down in front of her, he stared until she opened an eye.

“You go from never sharing your feelings at all to being rather annoying.”

“I wasn’t sharing.  I swear.  Come here.  Turn over.”

“Nate, not in the mood.”

“I know.  I just thought that, you look so tense and all.”

“Oh, alright.”

Sophie’s back was all in knots as he worked his way down her spine.  She sighed as he managed to relax her, muscles loosening under his touch.

“Instead of a mastermind, you should be a masseuse.”

“Could I make as much money?”

“It’s not that you make a lot of money now.  Alternative revenue stream, ha!  But yes, you most certainly could make money. Those hands of yours.  Glad they’re all mine.”

“Better?”

Sophie curled up next to him.  He spooned against her as she relaxed even further into the bed, drifting off to sleep.  He could barely even touch her a year ago without it burning him. Now he was holding her as she fell asleep, pressed against him.  She touched him all the time now.  Before, it was a different story.  Those touches always had a story to tell.  Intimate touches that no one else would notice, even when he was chasing her.  It always seemed to distract him, ignite something inside him, but it always felt like she was playing a game with him, knowing that he’d never break his vows of marriage.  Once his marriage was over, her touches sometimes seared him to the core, like she was branding him as hers. 

He initially had to get used to the way she was.  She touched the others too, but differently.  With him, it was a brush here, a stroke there, usually in places that he wouldn’t have thought to be intimate, but with her, she made it that way.  She’d hold his hand, rubbing her thumb over his palm.  Once or twice, she’d taken hold of his wrist to stay him from something and pressed in to feel his pulse pounding.  Sophie would brush his curls out of his face when needed, stroking her hand over his forehead gently.  She tended his wounds when something went wrong, applying pressure when that damn judge managed to get him shot.  The hovering on that job was just a little too much, even though he’d been injured.  She’d lean over, breath hot on his neck or sometimes directly over his ear and he’d shiver at her closeness.  Even when he’d placed the earbud in her ear that first time, he felt the contact all the way down to his toes.

When they’d started whatever they were doing back in San Lorenzo, she had just brushed up against him while they drank, shoulders touching, knees knocking together under the table while they both put away copious amounts of alcohol.  She swayed, knocking into him as they entered the elevator, attempting to not be identified as they made their way to Nate’s suite.  With every intimate touch that night, she branded him as hers.  The kisses on his neck, the hands through his hair, the grinding of her hips against his, the way she stripped him down, drunk and not in control at all.  Now she trusted him with her heart?  Would he want to go back to that night and start over, tell her that she was making a mistake?

By the feel of her hands linked with his, this couldn’t be a mistake.  He’d work not for it to be wrong.  She was too damn important.  He needed to make some changes, real changes in his life.  Now was the time to start.


	24. Hardison Improvises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hardison has to improvise during the job, Nate gets hurt yet again, and there's ice cream.

Chapter Twenty-Four—Hardison Improvises

Hardison knew that the job was supposed to be an easy one.  It was what was happening at the Spencer homestead that had Eliot worried.  They’d been staying there for six days now, the job going well, but seemed to be going on forever. 

“So Sophie predicted that we might have to stay an extra two days.”

“Dammit, Sophie.  Her long cons always turn out this way.  Why didn’t Nate stop her when she started to improvise?”

“Eliot, go ahead and ask her.  Besides, it’s workin’, man.  Just chill.”

“It’s working, alright.  The rest of you are driving me crazy.”

“Nah, I think it’s Aimee who’s driving you crazy.  We here all the time. Can’t be us.”

“Wanna test that theory?”

Hardison realized that Eliot was a bit testy because of Hardison’s slightly blown research on the mark.  Eliot didn’t get caught, did he?  Nate had pulled him out at the right moment and he didn’t even blow the con for the rest of them.

“You burned though.  Gotta sit the rest of this one out.  Unless we need someone punched, that is.”

Hardison had rented a van to take the place of Lucille while they were in Oklahoma.  He tried to make it a bit homier, but Eliot had complained already that it started to smell. What did he know?

“If you say I have to sit with you on the rest of this one, we are gonna have words.”

“Ask Nate.  Nate, Nate.  Tell him, please.”

“Will you two stop arguing for one second?”

Both Eliot and Hardison looked at each other as Nate growled his response into the comm.

“Yeah, man.  We good.”

“Trouble?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he answered back, obviously in distress.

Hardison, as quickly as he could, found where Nate was located on the grid he had set up on his screen.

“Need a way out, Nate?”

“Working on it.  Just give me a minute.”

“Parker, you got eyes on Nate?”

It took Parker a moment to answer, but when she did it was subdued.

“Little help here, guys.  I can’t tell if Nate’s blown, but he might be blown.”

“Two of us?”

Hardison could tell that Eliot was pissed. This was supposed to be an easy con, an easy job to help clear a client’s name.

“Nate, security is headed your way. Take the east entrance instead of the south.  That means take a right instead of a left.  Once you’re outdoors, follow the path until you reach the parking lot.”

“That’s pretty far away,” Nate answered, sounding winded.

“Keeps you out of their path though.”

“Hope I don’t get spotted.”

“You need a diversion?” Parker asked.

“No.  I don’t want you blown too.  It’ll be up to you and Sophie to wrap this one up.”

“Should I go?” Eliot pointed to Hardison.

“Not yet.  Just wait.  He’s almost in the clear.”

Hardison watched on the screen as he tracked Nate, looked at the surroundings on the video feeds, and generally tried to keep it all in focus.

“Nate, be careful,” Sophie whispered, too deep inside to be able to help.

“Trying.”

Hardison’s eyes bugged out when he saw what was coming up the path that he put Nate on.

“Abort, Nate. Do you hear me?  Abort.  Go left, then a sharp right.  And you probably might want to run.”

Eliot crashed out of the van just in time to see Nate being punched in the gut.  Dammit, thought Hardison.  He needed better equipment on this one.  Jumping to the front, he started the van, revving the engine to make a quick getaway.

“Parker, Sophie, what’s going on?”

“We’re fine,” they answered in unison.  “Get Nate out.”

“Hardison, now,” Eliot screamed.  “Sophie, I suggest you bail.  Get her out of there Parker.  We need to regroup.”

“Why isn’t Nate talking?” she asked. 

Hardison could hear that each of the team members was winded, with groans coming from Nate.

“Got her,” Parker announced.  “Leaving from the other entrance.”

“Steady and slow, Parker.  Don’t raise suspicion.”

“I got this.”

“I know, mamma.  It’s just that Sophie right now, you know.”

“We know, Hardison,” Sophie responded in kind. “Eliot?”

All Hardison could hear was punching and crashing.

“Now, Hardison.  Southeast corner of the parking lot.  We’re coming in hot.”

Hardison slammed the van into drive and made it over to where Eliot wanted in no time flat.  Wrenching the door open, Eliot literally flung Nate inside and closed the door as he jumped in.

“Go, go.”

Nate slumped over on the floor, groaning as he was being jostled by every bump.

“Please tell me you’re both out and on your way?” Eliot asked, breathing heavily.

“Roger,” Parker answered back.

“Hardison, we gotta ditch the van and the car.  Just in case.”

“I rented them under aliases.  Shouldn’t be difficult.  Gotta go somewhere without cameras though.  Then I have to go through and scrub all the cameras around the area.  Should be simple.”

“Do it.”

Nate rolled over, attempting to sit up as he did.

“Do you have to hit every bump, Hardison?”

“She’s not Lucille, Nate. Crappy van.”

Nate dug something out of his jacket pocket and held it up for the two men to see.

“Hey, at least you still scored.” Hardison said as he swung onto another street.

“My ribs will thank me in the morning.  Soph, are you and Parker blown or do we still have a chance?”

“I think we’re OK.  How about you?”

“Nothing a shot of whiskey won’t cure.”

“Bloody cheeky bastard.  Eliot, does he need a hospital?”

“He’ll live.  You need to learn how to cover your middle.”

“Every single, damn time,” Nate groaned.  “Every single time.”

Even when their plans unraveled, they had a chance of saving them.  Sure, Nate was the mastermind, but if he didn’t have this team, then it would all go to shit.  Hardison was thinking what he needed to do in the next hour to make sure everything would stay on track.  They really didn’t need law enforcement showing up at Mary Beth’s door asking if she’d seen any shifty characters that looked like the three of them.  That would not go over well at all.

“Alright, here we go people.  I need every scrap of equipment in this van out, now.”

Nate rolled his eyes and clutched his ribs.

“And where do you think we can put all this equipment on short notice?” Nate asked.

“I have the best idea on the planet. Don’t thank me yet.  Wait until you see.”

“Just do it, Hardison, before I make it hurt.”

“Alright,” he told Eliot.

Hardison slowed down the van and pulled it onto a side street.  Jogging out of the van, he made it back down the street in a few minutes.  It took around ten minutes to secure what he needed to be a getaway car or vehicle.  Sophie and Parker pulled up not too long after that.  Once they saw his ingenious plan, they’d be set too.

“Hey, gotta help me get everything out of the van.  Here’s our alternative.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Parker said as she eyed the vehicle next to Hardison.

It was a great plan, he thought.  He was thinking on the fly, coming up with alternatives while they were running out of options.

“See any better ideas to put that equipment in and the five of us?”

“OK, whatever.  But I want ice cream.”

“Don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“How much did you pay him, Hardison?”

“Five grand.  Probably ain’t worth that, but whatever.  Ice cream truck.”

“Did you say ice cream truck?  What the hell is wrong with you?  What if we have to move quickly?”

“It’s gotta a Ford chassis, big engine, the tank is full and we gotta go because I think they may have figured out where we are,” Hardison added as he looked at his phone.

“The tracker we put on the mark?”

“Is coming right for us.”

Eliot scrambled out of the van, pulling Nate with him as he did.  Sophie grabbed onto Nate and shuffled him into the ice cream truck while the other three grabbed as much equipment as possible.

“Fingerprints,” Sophie added.

“We gotta blow them both.”

“Eliot, wait, what?” Nate said from inside the truck.

“No way we’re gonna be able to get away clean if we don’t.  I know what to do.”

As the last of the equipment made it into the ice cream truck, Eliot slammed the van’s door shut, turned the van around and gassed it, running into the car that Parker had driven.

“Whoa,” Parker yelled as she climbed into the truck behind Hardison.

A couple matches later, both vehicles were in flames. 

“Looks like an accident.  Where’s the local police when you need them?”

Hardison donned the jacket the ice cream guy gave him and started the truck, telling everyone to keep down.  As he ambled down the road, he looked back to see the bad guys pull up, flames shooting out of the van.

“Nothing left of those other than some twisted metal.”

“Don’t you dare turn on that ice cream music.”

Hardison wanted to laugh and tweak Eliot, but he could see that the hitter was so not in the mood.  That was their game, their key to getting along.  If they both goaded each other during a job, then things tended to work out well.  If it turned serious, then people tended to get hurt, just like today with Nate.

“Best ride ever,” Parker shouted as she downed an ice cream sandwich.

“Oh geez,” Nate said as he sat on the floor with Sophie holding his hand.  “Just don’t hit any more bumps, Hardison.”

“An ice cream truck?”

“Improvising. That’s what it’s called.”

“We stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Damn right.  And we are alive because of me.  We also have ice cream I have no idea what to do with.”

“We eat it,” Parker announced, chocolate at the corners of her mouth.

“No throwing up, Parker.  You know what eating too fast does to you?”


	25. Parker Thinks Too Much, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker thinks too much about the relationship.

Chapter Twenty-Five—Parker Thinks Too Much, Again

And Sophie, as usual, was right.  Parker had downed too many ice creams, which in turn made her throw up because Hardison drove like the doofus that he was.  She was lucky she hit the garbage can instead of Eliot’s shoes.

“Just, just no, Parker.  Why?”

“It was good, until it wasn’t.  I don’t regret it, ever.”

“An ice cream truck?” Mary Beth asked when she came out of the house.

“Improvising,” Hardison reminded everyone.

“We had a little run in.  It’s all OK,” Eliot told his sister.

“A little?” Sophie said as she helped Nate from the vehicle.

“Hey, is he hurt?” Aimee said as she came from the barn, with horses as Parker grimaced.

“When is he not?” Sophie told the two women.

Nate tried to smile, but it came out as a scowl instead.

“Occupational hazard.”

“Looks like you got kicked in the gut by a horse,” Aimee added as she smiled at Eliot.  Eliot did not smile back.

“He was almost as big as a horse,” Nate muttered as Sophie took his arm in hers.

“How ‘bout you?  Get your ass kicked?” Aimee said as she swiveled around to look at Eliot.

“I’m fine,” he grumbled, following Sophie and Nate.

“Nate always seems to get punched in the stomach.  Nowhere else usually.  Hey, he’s gotten punched in the head a few times.  Usually in the stomach.”

The two women stared at Parker like she was crazy.

“Too much information.  Way, way, way too much information.”

“Not like he gets kicked in the crotch.  I keep telling him he should carry a taser.  But does he listen?  Noooo.”

“Taser’s your thing, sweetie.”

Yeah, the taser was her thing.  She liked using it on people who would not cooperate. It saved her from punching them, which really hurt to do sometimes. And they were incapacitated much quicker by one.

Wandering back to their room, Parker looked to Hardison, grinning while she did.

“Feel better?”

“Yeah.  You did warn me.”

“I know my girl.”

“Am I your girl?”

“Yeah.  I like the sound of that.”

“I do too. So what are we going to do with an ice cream truck?”

“I have no idea.”

She loved the fact that her man was so smart, so caring and so crazy, just like her.  He’d sacrifice everything for his team, for her, to make sure that they were safe.

“I liked what you did.  Thinking on your feet,” Parker said as she opened the door to their room.

Taking his hand in hers, she looked up at him.

“I aim to please.”

Parker immediately took a shower and cleaned up after that one.  Smelling like ice cream made her stomach clench a little, but once that smell was gone, she was good. 

As she walked out of the bathroom, she saw Hardison lounging on the bed, almost like he wanted to seduce her.  He was posing, she thought.  Parker almost laughed at it, but realized she might hurt his feelings. Going with the flow was probably the best course of action.  Pulling him to her, his sweet kiss turned into something a bit more intense.

“I hope you didn’t steal an ice cream truck to impress me,” Parker said, as she sighed at his touch.

“Well, maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Girl, you have to know that I always have your back.  And if there’s chocolate added into the mix, then I know where we stand.”

The thought of chocolate mad her queasy again, so she sat up rather quickly, knocking into Hardison in the process.

“Oh, oops.  Shouldn’t mention food.”

“Nope.  Nope.  I’m good.”

Hardison massaged her shoulders, helping take the tension out of them.

This is why she really liked him.  It’s like he knew almost exactly what to do and when to do it.  Their luck had to run out sometime.  Not all relationships were this way. There would be no way he could keep this up.  It’s not like she had anything to gauge it by since she’d never been in a relationship before.  That thought made her shoulders tense up even more.

“Hey, something up?”

See, there he went again, thinking the same thoughts she had.

“Are you like psychic or something?”

“No.”

“Well, I think you are.  Every time, when I’m thinking something, you seem to pick up on it.”

“No, I just want this to be good, for you and me.”

“Me too,” Parker answered, but not knowing what else to say.

“If you’re having second thoughts.”

“And thirds and fourths,” slipped out before she could stop.

“Oh.  So, um.”

“I’m worried.  And scared.  And more worried.”

“Don’t get yourself all in a huff over something you can’t control.”

Control?  That’s what she seemed to be missing.  She wanted to make sure she could control her actions and his too.  Then she’d feel more secure.

“Control?  I am not Nate.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Hardison added, backing away from her.

“Just, just, I need some space.”

“Yeah, Ok.  I got it.  Space. Just, I’ll leave you to it.”

Before she could apologize, Hardison left as quickly as he could.  That was not what she wanted.  What did she want?  That was probably the biggest question.  She had no control once she told Hardison that she liked him.  She was concentrating too much on not saying the wrong things, not doing the wrong things.  Parker was hesitant because she had no idea how to act, how to think, or really how to feel about another person in her life.  Closeness was not something she’d ever experienced.  And now she was attempting to go through all these emotions and hadn’t been able to process them.

“Crap,” she whispered to herself.

Now what did she do?


	26. Sophie Plays Nurse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie still can't keep her hands to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Which is why this fic was almost rated E instead of M. Sophie won't behave.

Chapter Twenty-Six—Sophie Plays Nurse

Sophie maneuvered Nate over to the bed and gently helped him down onto it.  Eliot hovered over the mastermind, wanting to check the man out to make sure that his assessment was correct, that he didn’t need to go to the hospital.  After poking Nate for a few minutes, Eliot determined that there was no permanent damage.

“Those ribs are gonna be sore.  Still breathing OK?”

“Yeah.”

“Sophie, you gotta watch him.  At the first sign, you call me.”

“I will.”

Eliot shook his head and slowly backed out of the room.  Sophie gave him a look of I’ll take care of him to show the hitter that she understood perfectly what to do if something went wrong.

Nate lay on the bed, arm covering his eyes, still dressed in his suit and tie.

“Let’s get you undressed.”

“I can’t move.”

“Are you sure you’re Ok?”

“Dammit, Sophie.  Just back off.”

The grumpy Nate always appeared when he was injured.  She let it get to her several times at the beginning, but realized that this was his way of dealing with the pain.  While Eliot would grunt, Hardison would whine, Nate would grumble.  She’d learned each of their moods, and their feelings of what happened to them. 

“You’ll feel better once the tie and the shoes are off.”

Sophie started with the shoes and socks, noticing that she wasn’t met with any resistance.  He really was a big baby when it came to these kinds of things.  At least he didn’t whine like Hardison. Then she probably would have left him to his own devices.

As gently as she could, she untied the tie and slipped it off his neck, unbuttoning some of the buttons on his shirt.  He dropped his arm from his head and stared at her as she hovered over him.

“You never can let me be in pain in peace, can you?”

“Oh, Nate.  Stop whining.”

“At least the view’s nice.”

So he had been looking down her blouse as she’d taken care of him.

“I’ll bet.  OK, what next? The jacket?”

“That means I have to sit up.”

“Yep.”

Rolling a little, he managed to sit up without grunting too much, which probably meant the ribs and muscles weren’t too injured.  Luckily Eliot was usually right in his assessments.

“Alright, shirt too.”

“You just want to get me undressed.”

“I just want you to feel better.”

He opened his eyes then, face close to hers. “How are you, I mean, are you feeling better?”

“Of course, darling.”

The shirt came off too, along with the undershirt. Sophie handed him some ibuprofen and water so the pain would be manageable.  Nate groaned a little as he lowered himself back down onto the bed.

“I am not going to be able to move tomorrow.”

“Probably not.”

“How does Eliot do this?”

“Not get punched in the stomach I guess.”

Nate’s eyes flew open at this.  “Bad luck.”

The belt buckle was a little more challenging since Sophie really didn’t want to hurt Nate any more than he was.  He jumped a little as her fingers slightly touched his stomach as she pulled it off of him.  She could see the bruises starting to form across his torso.  Before he could protest, she lowered herself and lightly kissed each one of them.

“Breathing ok still?” she asked, knowing that it sped up at her touch.

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Let’s get the rest of those clothes off.”

Nate grabbed her arm to stay her.

“I really can’t move.”

“I know.  Let me take care of you.”

And the pants were off, with just a little tugging on her part to make sure he didn’t have to move around.  Even injured, he was still impressive hard and ready to go. How men did that was beyond her.

Bending over, she traced each scar, each bruise with her tongue, watching him to make sure she didn’t hurt him.

“Are you sure, you know?”

“I am, you idiot.”

He didn’t have as many scars as Eliot, wasn’t as built as Hardison.  His dark hair sprinkled with grey showed his age, as did his not so flat stomach, but Sophie did not care.  As she straddled him, she thought about how he looked over the time she had known him.  She liked him exactly as he was now, imperfect, scared, older and hands that were very skilled in making her scream.

“Do not move, Nate.”

“I might hurt myself,” he smirked.

He watched her as she unbuttoned her blouse and threw it to the side.  The skirt came next as did the hose and shoes. 

“That’s what you had on underneath?” he said as he saw the satin and lace.  “Not that I’m complaining.”

She knew she’d put her undergarments to good use once the day was done. She just didn’t know it would be sooner than later.

“Did you let him look down your blouse?  Use that voice when you’re trying to pull them in to your web?”

She could tell that Nate was a bit jealous on this one, because the mark was handsome and much younger than he was.

“Jealous?”

“No.  Just asking.”

“Oh right,” she finished as she crawled up, letting him look his fill.

She was very careful not to touch his torso, knowing that if she did, this all might end very quickly with him in an enormous amount of pain.  As she placed gentle kisses on his neck, his hands brushed over her shoulders, running their way up to her hair to pull it out of the messy bun that she hadn’t had time to get rid of.  He tugged on the clasp of her bra, yanking it off so he could run his rough hands over her as she leaned down.  As he pulled her to his lips, he hungrily kissed her once there was contact.  Placing her hands beside him on the bed, she broke the kiss and slowly worked her way back down his body, kissing each scar again as she did.

“Tell me if I hurt you.”

Nate laughed a little after she said this.  Oh if he knew the number of times during that first year they worked together she wanted to make it hurt, if just for him to realize that he was alive.  Now she wouldn’t hurt him for the world.

As he tried to move closer, she shut him down again.

“Don’t move,” she growled back.

“Not easy to.”

The boxers came next in addition to her underwear.  He really wanted to move his arms, to touch her, but she was in total control this time.

“Maybe I should get hit more often.”

“Maybe you should learn to run faster.”

“I like the benefits.”

“I like to make sure you’re alive to make you scream afterwards.”

“No screaming.  Might hurt,” he groaned as she rolled on the condom and sank down on him.

She couldn’t place her hands down on him, put any pressure on his chest, so she’d definitely have to do all the work this time.  So she did all the work, his hands on her thighs, fists clenching tight. He’d make it up to her at some point, that she was sure.  She watched him as she went over the edge, as she tightened around him. She’d never done that before, too caught up in her own pleasure.  His own intense blue eyes stared right back at her, finally shutting as that one last stroke put him over the edge too, groaning as he did.


	27. Eliot Bonds With His Family and Talks To Aimee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliot gets to spend some time with his nephew. Aimee finally confronts him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I made Eliot wait so long.

Chapter Twenty-Seven—Eliot Bonds With His Family and Talks To Aimee

Eliot watched as Robbie flew by him again, running to the stables.  He’d done his job of patching Nate up as best he could, but there was nothing he could do for his boss now other than giving him time to recover.  Sophie would see to that.

“Hey, Rob.  Hold up.”

The boy slowed his progress a bit, turning to see if Eliot meant business.  They’d talked a few times since Eliot had arrived, but he felt he wasn’t getting anywhere with his nephew at all. 

“Show me that new horse, would ya?”

Robbie smiled back at him then, gesturing for Eliot to follow.  Eliot could tell that Robbie loved these horses and knew how to act around them.  Trying to draw the boy out might happen through what he loved.

“Sprinkles.”

Eliot didn’t understand how someone could name a horse Sprinkles, but he wasn’t questioning that.  The horse was beautiful, coat soft and shiny like someone had been taking great care of the mare.

“You’ve done a good job with her.”

“I have ta.  Ma said.”

“Yeah, your ma knows what she’s talking about.”

“Most of the time.”

Robbie took the time to show Eliot what he knew about Sprinkles and what he knew about horses in general.  The boy could not stop talking about the stables, letting Eliot know that horses would win out any day over any other activity that the boy was involved in.

“Aimee’s been letting me brush her every day.  And I also have to make sure that she gets fed and watered and all that stuff.  Then I get to clean out her stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“You know.  Oh geez, Uncle Eliot.  Horseshit.”

Eliot laughed at that, knowing that he must have learned that from Aimee, not his sister.

“Just don’t let your mother hear you talk like that.”

“I won’t.  I’d get in trouble and probably my mouth washed out with soap.”

Once Sprinkles was saddled and ready for a ride around the ring, Eliot watched as Robbie took the horse through her paces, exercising her the correct way, being gentle and kind to the horse as he did.

“Good kid,” Aimee said behind him.

“Good teacher.”

“Oh, he knew exactly what to do before I arrived here.  Believe me, he did.  I just let him actually do it all himself.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that Mary Beth is a bit overprotective.”

“Only a little.  She does want to make sure he knows how to handle these creatures.”

“She was always better at it than I was.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

Aimee smiled next to him.  It was almost like he’d never left, the way they were able to relate to one another, without the venom right before he left that first time.

“Talk to your dad?”

“Yeah.”

“How’s things?”

“He wants me to come back.”

“You gonna go?”

“I dunno,” she sighed next to him.  “It’s so frustrating.  I just want him to be happy.  Don’t know if I can do it anymore, be right there for him.”

“He’s gotta grow up sometime.”

Aimee laughed as Eliot made the joke.

“Probably did depend on me a little too much.”

“A little too much?  He had you shoveling out stalls when you were eight.  And fixing breakfast by the time you were nine.  You really didn’t get to be a kid.”

“I did, somewhat.  It was just different, you know.”

“Oh, I know.”

The two stood in silence as they watched Robbie have fun with Sprinkles.  It made Eliot feel good that his nephew had something in his life that made him happy.  The boy needed that, and probably craved that too. Eliot knew he did when he was younger.

“So, y’all almost done? With the job, I mean?”

“We’ll see.  That setback today is gonna cost us.  Nate got the information, although he’s blown now.  It’s just up to Sophie and Parker now to clean it up.”

“And tie it in a neat, little bow.  I know.  I remember what you did.”

“It’ll work out.”

Aimee stroked his arm, like she was trying to reassure him.  It felt like fire as she did.  Jerking her hand away, she turned to leave until he stopped her with his.

“Hey, just, wait.  Aim, we need to talk.  Not when little ears are around.  Tonight?”

“Yeah.  I guess.  I promised that Robbie could take Sprinkles out though.  You wanna help?”

“Sure.  Let me get a horse saddled.”

“You sure?  You didn’t take a beating?”

“Nah. Just Nate.  Sophie’s taking care of it.  The man’s made of steel or something.  Been shot more than me.”

“Really?”

“Unfortunately.  He doesn’t know when to duck.”

Aimee laughed as she walked to find another horse for Eliot.  The three of them rode out, laughing and generally having fun for the few hours of daylight left.  Robbie was so excited when they got back, he almost forgot to put his horse away for the night.  After reminding him of what it meant to have a horse of his own, Robbie dutifully did as he was told, asking Eliot a million questions as he did.

Once dinner was done and the dishes were cleared, Eliot spent time with Robbie, played a board game and listened to him tell Eliot about his friends at school and what he did during the summer months.

“Yeah, I’m getting to take care of the horses more and more this summer.  It’s been fun.”

“I bet you can’t wait until school starts.”

“Sorta.  My dad keeps telling my mom that I should go to the school in his district.”

“Well, what does your mom have to say about that?”

“I think she yelled at him.  I don’t like him, Uncle Eliot.”

Eliot could understand, knowing that Mary Beth had such a hard time with her ex-husband and here he was, attempting to be back in their lives.

“What do you think?” Eliot asked the boy.  “Don’t let it be what your mother thinks.  I know you’re loyal to her.”

“I just don’t get it.  He’s gone and now he’s back and he thinks that he can just be a dad or something.”

The kid had wisdom beyond his years.  Eliot was still worried that since Robbie didn’t know his dad, that could cause problems for the little guy too.

“Do you think that maybe you want to get to know him?”

“I don’t trust him.”

The Spencer trait of not letting anyone get too close has transferred to the younger generation. 

“Have you given him the opportunity to earn that trust?”

“I dunno.  Hey, you help people.  Can you help me?”

“I sure can.  I will make sure that he is a good guy.  How about that?”

“And what if he isn’t?”

“Then we’ll deal with it, as a family.”

He gave Robbie a high five, read him a story, and told him to go to bed.  Robbie grumped, but quickly fell asleep.  Mary Beth was grateful for Eliot’s help since she also had a long day.

“He’s out,” Eliot whispered as she came down the hall with folded laundry.

“You kept him busy for a few hours. Thanks.”

“Not a problem.  We gotta talk.”

Eliot led her to the living room just in case Robbie woke up.

“What’s up with the ex?  Robbie is really worried.”

“I wish I knew.  It could be since he still owes me a ton in child support he’s trying to get out of it? I wish I could figure out what his game is.”

“What makes you think he’s running a game?”

Mary Beth sat down on the sofa, twisting her hands back and forth, worry etched on her face.

“Because I know him.  He wasn’t the most upstanding guy when I married him.  He always had some money making scheme in his head, thought that he could get ahead without putting in the work.  Something’s just off about him.  I know what you’re thinking, Eliot.  Just don’t.”

“I swear.  I won’t beat him up unless he deserves it.”

“Don’t beat him up at all.  I can’t see you going to jail for me.”

“Oh, I won’t go to jail.  They’ll never find the body.”

“Eliot,” Mary Beth chastised.

“Ok, I’ll leave him alone.  Just tell me next time if you need help.  I’m here.”

“I will.  Listen, I have to get the laundry finished.  The couple that’s getting married on Saturday is coming by early tomorrow to start setting up.  I hope your friends don’t mind?”

“Oh no. They won’t.”  Now Eliot had to make sure the other four behaved themselves tomorrow.

“Sophie and Parker have some work to do tomorrow. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

He hoped.  All he could do now was to get Hardison to check out Mary Beth’s ex.  That might ease his mind a little on what was going on.  And help Robbie too. 

After helping his sister fold a bit of laundry, Eliot made his way over to the stables to check on Robbie’s horse to make sure that the boy did a good job taking care of the mare.  The horse nuzzled against Eliot’s hand, wanting a treat.

“Girls just can’t leave you alone, now can they?”

“Only the cute ones.”

“Oh boy, you are full of shit.”

“Yeah. Pretty much sums it up.”

Aimee approached Eliot, hair in a tight braid, looking fresh after their ride in the afternoon.

“You clean up well.”

“Oh gee, thanks El,” Aimee answered the sideways compliment with sarcasm.

“I just, yeah.  Words don’t come out the way they should around you.”

Aimee stroked the mare’s nose as Eliot looked at her closely.

“You always were a sweet talker, Eliot.”

“More of an action guy.”

Eliot couldn’t look at Aimee now, feeling more vulnerable than he had when they’d met a few years ago.  Then it was all anger between the two of them, with a little bit of understanding.  It didn’t last long enough for him to find out what was going on in his mind, except for the fact that all those feelings he’d had those many years ago came rushing back.  He’d never wanted to feel like that, like he was letting her down once again.

“Yeah, lots of action guy there.”

“Hey, um, thanks for helping out today with Robbie.  He really is a great kid.”

“Oh, I know.  Really helps around here.”

Aimee looked away.  Eliot looked away.  Eliot realized that neither one of them wanted to bring up what happened three years ago.

“Your job go south on you?” she said as she leaned up against the stall.

“Almost.  I think we can salvage it.  Not supposed to let anyone get hurt though.  That’s always the hardest.”

Eliot wanted to focus on her, he really did, but it hurt.

“Hey, um, you know, you’re having a hard time right now.  Why don’t I just, you know, go?”

As Aimee turned, Eliot grabbed her arm for her to stay.

“Just wait.  I thought we could talk.”

“I thought we could too,” she answered, looking down at his hands on her.  “It’s just that every time we talk, we say things we don’t really mean, sometimes hurtful, sometimes not.  I don’t know which Eliot I’m getting when we do.  Which one am I getting now?”

Now that surprised Eliot.  She did understand him, if just a little.  He never wanted to hurt her.  His eyes kept searching the ground, anywhere but her eyes. Touching his face, Aimee raised his chin until he was looking directly at her, nothing else.

“Are you scared of me?”

“Scared?  Of you?”  Why would you…?”

“Because.  You can’t even look at me.”

Eliot stood up taller, wanting to make sure she knew he was listening now, if just to give her the satisfaction of him hearing what she wanted to hear.

“Ok, I’m lookin’.  Fire away.”

“You’re lonely.”

“What?  Where’d you get that?”

“Your eyes.  I know you, remember that, Eliot.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I do.  I see a man who has literally shut himself off from the rest of the world.  Sure, your team knows you somewhat.  They may even understand you.  But they can never really know you.  They may know what makes you tick, what pisses you off.  But do they know what you need?”

That last word threw him.  What he needed?  Why would he actually need anything?  Eliot always felt that the word need was used too much.  Want would be a better word.  He wanted, yes, indeed he wanted a lot.  That didn’t mean he got what he wanted.

“I don’t need anything, sweetheart.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. El.  Those four people, you need them in your life.  You know that.  Because if you didn’t have them, you’d be who knows where.”

She did have a point.  If he didn’t have his team, he surely would be into something so deep, like Moreau, that he would have never come back up for air.  He’d be doing things he’d never be able to atone for, never be able to fix.  So maybe she was right.  He needed his team.

“I am where I am right now.”

“The wisdom of Eliot Spencer.  But what do you want, Eliot?  There’s gotta be something, something selfish, something that feels good, feels right.  What is that?”

Eliot wanted a lot of things.  He wanted his sister and Robbie to be safe and happy.  He wanted his team to be happy. 

“I don’t want anything, Aimee.”

“Oh, I think you’re wrong, Eliot.  On all counts.  There are so many things that you want and need in this life.  You just think you don’t deserve it, any of it.  Is that why you beat yourself up?”

“Listen, Aimee, this is just pointless.  I don’t need anything.  I look at people who need things.  Nate needs Sophie so he doesn’t go off the deep end.  Sophie needs Nate so that she just doesn’t disappear into all those roles she has in her head.  Parker needs Hardison so that she means something in this world.  Hardison needs Parker so that he has that connection to this world.  I could keep going on that all day.  They all need each other.  What does that make me?  Do you think for one second that any of them need me?”

“They need you to keep them safe, from the world and probably from themselves.”

Eliot turned, not wanting Aimee to see how vulnerable he was at that moment.  He didn’t want anyone to need him.  That way, when the time came, he could leave without regrets.  Walking away from her would hurt, but if that’s what he had to do, yet again, he’d do it.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me, dammit.  I need you, Eliot.  Please just listen to me.  If just to listen.  I need you to listen.”

The pleading in her voice stopped him, made him turn to her, to see the anguish on her face.

“I’ve needed you for so long.”

“That’s want, Aimee.  It has nothing to do with needing me to be around.”

“Such bullshit.  You have been feeding yourself a line of bullshit for so long.  They need you.  I need you.  Just get over it.  But you know what, what I want right now?”

His chest was tight, heart beating so hard he thought it would jump right out if it could.  How could she do that to him, after all these years?

“You.  Your hardhead, stubborn, dumb, jerkass, whatever you.  Sometimes I hate you.”

She approached him like he was a bomb about to explode, inching her way over to him, eyes wide and full of tears.

“Funny way of showing it,” he teased.

“Oh yeah.  I’m funny that way.”

She stood only a few inches away from him, but it seemed like miles.  Did she want him to make that final step, tell her what was going on in that mixed up brain of his?

“You deserve something, someone better, Aim.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

Eliot leaned into her, lowering his head to gently place a kiss on her waiting lips.  She tasted just as she had before, three years ago, a lifetime ago when he’d left her.  She didn’t reach out to touch him, letting him make whatever move he wanted.  As he raised his head finally, he saw one tear escape.  Wiping it away, he kissed her cheek and turned to walk away. It was for the best, he thought.  Before she became attached to him, he knew he’d have to break her heart.

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

Yanking his head forward, her lips slammed against his, all need in the way she kissed him.  Her lips tasted salty now, from the tears that started to flow right after he started to walk away.  Aimee thrust her hand into his hair, pulling him down, telling him to stay with her movements, with her body.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he almost begged her.

“Don’t care.  If I have to pin you down and handcuff you to the bed, Eliot, then I will.”

He grinned a little as their foreheads touched, slowing down everything.  The stillness in the world around him threw him for a loop.  Before him was Aimee, only Aimee, no badness, no regret, nothing but someone who knew him, who wanted him just the way he was.

“I want you, Eliot,” Aimee whispered in his ear.

“The stable, again?”

“Bed.  There’s a bed this time.”

Eliot dove in for a kiss as Aimee wrapped her legs around his middle.

“Door, to the right,” she managed to say as his lips traveled down to her neck.

Pushing it open, Eliot shut it with his foot, slamming Aimee up against it as he did.  He’d be selfish this time, he thought.  She was right.  He could be selfish when he wanted to be.  Not that he ever was, giving his body over to his team for punishment. It was much more fun to give his body over to Aimee for the time being, even if it just was for the night.

“No wall, no door. We’re doin’ this right.”

Aimee poked him to let her down, grabbed his hand and led him over to the nice, soft bed in the corner.  He realized then how homey she’d made her little corner of the stable, even if it did still smell like horses a little bit.  But that was Aimee.  He’d take that over anything else.

Her hands were shaking as she unbuttoned his shirt.

“You know, I can do that,” he told her, but she slapped them away.

“Shh. Don’t ruin the moment.”

Sliding it off, she quickly traced her hands down his sides and up his back, feeling the smooth skin, gliding over the scars as she did.  Luckily he didn’t have any bruises for the moment, no healing, no injuries. He’d let her be in control, if just so she could feel what she was doing was right in the end.

“I can see you thinkin’.  Stop it right now.”

“Not thinking.”

Her hands dipped into the waistband of his jeans, teasing him until he finally had to pull them away, placing them on his chest again to be able to breathe.

“No teasing.”

“I thought you liked to be teased.”

“We’ll see who likes to be teased.”

Pulling her shirt over her head, his mouth landed on her shoulder, tongue working its way over to her neck. He worked the braid in her hair out with one hand as the other found the clasp of her bra, pulling the garment apart and off.  His body rocked into hers, feeling her soft curves as his hands made their way down her back.  It must have been the smell of her citrusy shampoo, but she tasted like ripe oranges, sweet, tangy as he bit the side of her breast, as her hands gripped into his hair. 

Her sighs urged him on, to find out what she wanted, what she liked, yet again exploring her as he didn’t have time to three years before.  They were too frantic with need that last time. Now he’d take the time, feel every inch of her.  She was so delicate compared to him, yet the strength in her hands as she pulled him back up, to yank his pants down and push him on top of the bed made his head spin.

He watched as she pushed her own pants down, clad now only with lacy underwear.  Even that she decided to lose, making him groan as she did.  Inch by inch, she kissed her way up his body, hands busy taking what he had left, stroking, teasing him until he felt her lips on his again, body flush and hot to the touch above him.  He craved her.  So maybe he didn’t need her.  He didn’t exactly know what need was.  He knew in that instant though that he could come to crave this, the way she felt, the way she moved over him, the way her hands stroked down his body.

As he pushed up and into her, he watched as her eyes glazed over, as she arched back into him, pushing down as he thrust up into her once again.  It wasn’t a rhythm they’d established before.  This was new.  They were different people from so long ago.  Both had different experiences.  They both gave as good as they got, hands exploring over sensitive flesh.  It was only when he moved his hand down that she sped up her efforts, making him realize that neither one of them would last that much longer.  As he pushed up into her one last time, he could feel her clench around him tightly, her body bowing as she came, his mind erased of anything but her around him.  He let go of everything but her in that instant.

Her eyes were on him as she settled on top of him, a wary smile appearing as she nipped at his shoulder.  So different than before, he thought.  What was different? He knew he was a different man, a different person than he was three years ago.  It was almost like he could actually breathe now, instead of waiting for the other shoe to fall.  Was being with Aimee a good idea or a bad idea?  From where he was, right at that moment, it seemed like the best idea in the world.


	28. Sophie and Hardison Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sophie and Hardison pull off a con on their own and bond.

Chapter Twenty-Eight—Sophie and Hardison Bond

It seemed like the best idea in the world, Hardison thought as he looked over the barn’s interior.  He’d taken to fixing the sound system, to keep his mind occupied instead of thinking of Parker.  She was mad at him.  He’d figured out that much. Only he had no idea how to fix it.  As he watched the happy couple attempt to set up the barn the way they wanted it, he realized that maybe happily ever after didn’t exist. The happy couple didn’t seem so happy, the relatives were fighting, and not much was getting done.  That’s why he stayed out of their way as he watched the in-laws try to run the show.  At least he’d never have to deal with that issue with Parker.

Parker hadn’t come down that morning yet, probably choosing to sulk in their room.  He knew he’d messed up a little.  That was a given.  Now how to fix it?

“Right there.  It goes right there.”

Both mothers were running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to outdo the other one.  The kids, the ones who were supposed to get married, just threw their hands up and sat down at opposite ends of tables that were set up.

“No, right there.”

The banging and the crashing were bound to wake up the thief, if not the other two teammates.  Hardison watched as Sophie glided down the stairs, dressed as she always was, perfect with accessories.

“Having a little trouble?” Sophie whispered as he noticed the bride ready to cry.

“Yeah, it appears that the in-laws think that they are getting married again.  The bride is ready to scream and the groom is ready to run.”

“Sounds familiar.”

“You do know how these things go.  I missed those days.”

“I’ve never been married before, but by the looks of things going on here right now, neither will the bride nor groom.  Follow my lead.”

Sophie’s cons on the fly were legend.  She did improvise with the best of them.

“Oh dear, would you look at this place.  Let’s see what we can do.”

All eyes turned to meet hers.  The smile on her face was classic Sophie on the job.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, Mary Beth hired me to help out.  I’m Sophie, by the way.  I’m your wedding organizer.  Let’s see if we can’t work on that over there.”

And off she went, ordering the in-laws around, fixing things where and when they needed to be fixed.  Hardison acted like her assistant over the next hour, pushing and pulling until the place seemed to be taking shape.

“Oh, will you look at those flowers?  Magnificent,” Hardison commented as one of the mothers-in-law came forward with a question.

“But we wanted red.  Can we get red?”

“Oh sweetie. You’re adorable.  Red, just not feeling it.  The pink and white combination looks so fabulous with your complexion.”

Sophie grimaced over his shoulder, warning him not to overplay his hand.  They didn’t have comms in at that moment, so she couldn’t tell him with her words.

“Better not be red,” the other mother-in-law commented. 

“The white and the pink do work within your budget.”

That mother-in-law smiled back at him with that statement.

“Come, come,” Sophie started. “Chop, chop.  Time for rehearsals.  Places everyone.”

Since the preacher hadn’t arrived yet, Hardison took his place while the bride walked down the aisle.  Sophie guided them all where she’d place them and how they were supposed to act. 

“Beautiful.”

“Oh, thank you,” the bride said, gushing to Sophie.

“My pleasure.  Now, you wait for the rest of the party to show up to rehearse again.  You have it, my dear.  You will be the most beautiful bride on the planet.”

Now it was Hardison’s turn to grimace behind the bride, telling Sophie that she might be laying it on a tad too much.

“Just keep working, working.  It’s all coming together. Excuse me.  I have a few phone calls to make.  Keep up the good work.”

Sophie pulled Hardison out of the way into the kitchen that was set up downstairs for the party guests.

“Phew, that was close.”

“You know what you did, don’t you?”

“I have no idea, Hardison.  It worked though.”

“You just got yourself invited to that wedding tomorrow night.  No way they’re gonna pull this off without your help.”

“Might be fun,” she grinned up at him as she took a water bottle from the refrigerator.

“Might get you killed by Nate.  You know him and weddings.  Seriously?  Do we have to hear the Home Depot speech again?”

“I kind of liked it.”

“Just because you cried a little doesn’t mean the rest of us did.”

“Oh stuff it, Hardison.  The one time that he actually went on about his feelings.”

“It was weird.  And he was drunk, in a priest’s costume.”

“You don’t know how apropos that getup was.”

Hardison would probably have to help out too since Sophie dragged him into it.  How would Parker feel about this sudden interest in someone else’s life? She was already so skittish around him as it was. 

“Yeah, well, don’t know if Parker is gonna be so keen on this.”

“Oh, it’s a party.  It’ll be fun.  Get dressed up, dance, get slightly inebriated.”

“Get incredibly drunk if you’re Nate.”

“He does have a problem with moderation, now doesn’t he?”

Hardison snorted at that, hoping that Nate behaved himself.

“I could just tell him that he has to stay in the room.”

“And that would go over how?  We’ll be lucky if he doesn’t show up as the preacher.”

“Can’t pull off the accent well enough.”

Sophie and Hardison laughed about Nate’s antics and failures in that arena.

“Good teamwork today,” Hardison said as he tried to fist bump Sophie.  Instead she grabbed his arm and hugged him.

“Yes, we do make quite the team.  So are you going to tell me what you and Parker are fighting about or am I going to have to ask her?”

“Uh, well.  You see, she’s, I have no idea.”

“Overthinking it? That’s our Parker.”

“Yeah, with a side of scared and worried thrown in.”

“Oh dear. She really is having a tough time of it.  She can’t control it.”

“Can’t control it?  You think that’s why she’s freaking out on me?”

“This comes from someone who shares her feelings with a control freak.”

“At least Nate doesn’t freak out on you.”  Sophie laughed a little at that.  “And I take that back. He does. Just in a different way.”

“Listen Hardison, she has every right to freak out on you.  This is a scary proposition you are putting in front of her.  She’s dealt with so much these past few years.  Now you’re adding your relationship to the mix.  It has to be upsetting.  Sit down and talk to her.  Don’t wimp out.”

“I’m not wimping out.  It’s just, this isn’t Parker.”

“Well, maybe this is a side of Parker that you’ve never encountered.  You know her and emotions.  The two of us, we’ve handled them all our lives.  People like Nate and Parker, not so much.”

“You always have the answers.”

“I should be a bloody psychologist, for goodness sake.  Not sure why I don’t.  I don’t need that degree.”

“Dr. Devereaux.  Just don’t let Nate know of your plans.”

“Control freak.”

“I thought you were gonna say asshole again.”

“Not as much these days.  It’s a work in progress.”


	29. Nate and Eliot Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate and Eliot bond over beer. Sophie tells Nate of her plans for Saturday night.

Chapter Twenty-Nine—Nate and Eliot Bond

The con that had been a work in progress from day one came to an abrupt conclusion that afternoon once Parker and Sophie picked up the pieces and figured out a way around the mark’s scheme.  With the data that Nate had stolen, Hardison needed to clean up the loose ends and they were done. Nate wanted to stick around until Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest just to make sure, but the plan had actually worked out, even if it was plan G.

As he sprawled in a fold out chair in the barn, he sighed his relief at a job well done.  No more people were injured, but his ribs were still quite sore, chest turning black and blue early that morning just to remind him he indeed was not getting any younger.  How did Eliot do this and not be a walking bruise?  He wasn’t that much younger than Sophie was or even he was. 

“I gotta get in better shape.”

“Yeah, you should,” Eliot echoed him from the entrance.

“In my copious free time.”

“It’s either Sophie or the job.”

“And I’m not giving either one of those up any time soon.”

Eliot pulled out another chair, turning it so he straddled it.

“Good job today,” Eliot complimented Nate.

“At least there wasn’t any more growling.”

“No more punches being thrown.  You OK?”

“Yeah, just sore.”

“Want me to take a look?”

“Nah.  I’m good.”

“Gonna tell me what your plan is for Latimer?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

Eliot sighed as he looked around the barn.  “Sometimes you keep those plans of yours too close to the vest, Nate.  You might wanna let someone in on them sooner.”

“There’s nothing we can do at the moment. He’s a thorn in our sides.”

“A thorn with a big bankroll and too much firepower.  He’s gonna make a move.”

“I know.  But how and where?”

“Not sure.  This isn’t my thing.  It’s yours and Hardison’s.”

“Wonder what he’ll do once he hears about this job?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out shortly if it matters.”

“I keep wondering though if what we’re doing matters.”

Second thoughts, third thoughts went through Nate’s mind daily.  They just kept coming at him, people asking for help, clients down to their last dollar, their last hope.  CEOs scheming to get rich off of the little folk.  He sometimes didn’t have enough plans to cover all the contingencies. 

“It has to,” Eliot answered, looking away as he did.

“You still believe in what we do?”

“I, it does, I do believe.  Just wondering what we’ve all given up in the process.”

“I think of it as what we’ve gained.”

“You’ve been shot, how many times?  Half the time I don’t know whether Sophie is gonna shoot you herself.  Parker, she does things that I can’t predict.  Hardison covers our asses, but is anyone looking out for his?  Have we dug ourselves a hole here Nate, which we can’t get out of?”

“Sophie’s already shot me once.  She won’t do it again. I think.”

“You keep thinking that.”

Nate laughed a little.  She really did get frustrated with him sometimes.  He had no doubt though that she would lay down her life if she knew he was in danger.  And that’s what scared him the most.

“We won’t know how large the hole is until it almost covers us.  There’s just no way to predict.”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong.  Tell me the truth.  You already know what you’ll do if Latimer seriously comes after us.”

“I, well yeah.  I hope I do.  It’s just, I didn’t predict that anyone would do what he did.  He’s one step ahead of us right now and I know no way around him.  It’s his move.”

“We may not be able to react fast enough.”

“I know.”

The two men sat in silence for a while, Nate itching for a drink. He really didn’t know what Eliot wanted right then, other than to possibly punch Latimer.

“You good with Aimee?” came out of Nate’s mouth before he could stop himself.

“Huh?  Oh, yeah.”

“Good.”

“Sophie?”

“Good.  We’re good.  For now.”

“We’re having a moment?”

“Well, we aren’t now.  I need a drink.”

“Best words I’ve ever heard,” Eliot answered, wanting to avoid the talk about feelings too.

Nate found a couple of beers in the refrigerator and pulled them out.  He opened one and handed it to Eliot while he did the same for himself.

“To women,” Eliot started.

“What would we do without them?”

“Be sorry sons a bitches standing here drinking.”

“Which is what we’re doing right now.”

“You ruined the moment, Nate.”

“Fuck it.”

“Getting started early, I see.”

Sophie could be sneaky like the rest of them, even with those damn heels she seemed to love wearing.

“Hey, sun’s going down. Definitely not too early.”

“I seem to remember your morning coffee.”

“I seem to remember you saying that you’d back off.”

Eliot put his hands up, like he really didn’t want to be in the middle of another one of their arguments.  Nodding to Nate, he quickly made his getaway.

“Something bothering you?  You seemed to be fine last night.”

“Nothing. It’s just,” Sophie said as she turned her back on him.

He wasn’t one to pry, but lately, when he tried, she’d talk.  Not that he much wanted her to talk, because when she did, he had to be on point with her ramblings.

“Just?”

“What are we doing?  Parker’s angry at Hardison for god knows what reason.  You seem to flip flop every single day on what it is that you want.”

“I do?”

“Eliot thinks that he’s the most worthless person on the planet.  Hardison is so in love with Parker, if she so much as says she doesn’t know what to do, he falls apart.”

“And you?”

Sophie reached for his beer and downed the rest in no time flat.

“That was mine.”

“I can’t decide whether I want to throw a punch at you or push you against the wall and have my way with you.”

“Second idea.”

“You wish.”

“They’re adults.  They’re gonna do whatever they want.  You can’t control any of them.”

“So says the mastermind with a control streak a mile long.”

Nate ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of what to say to Sophie, to make her realize that maybe these growing pains of theirs would work themselves out in time.

“I just, I have a feeling if things don’t settle down, then we’re all headed for some kind of disaster.”

“Sophie, you can’t predict the future.”

“But I can definitely plan for it.  You’re worried about Latimer and what he has planned.  I’m worried about the things that could tear this team apart.”

“So am I.  Worried.  About them.”

He could see disaster coming also, but he had wanted to deny it.  The dynamics could tear them apart quicker than any crooked CEO could.  Ignoring the fact that they each had so much baggage to deal with and it all was coming to a head once again made Nate’s head spin.  This was not his thing.  He definitely could not plan logically to account for people’s feelings.

“So, what do we do?” he asked of Sophie.

“Sit down and take these damn shoes off.  My feet are killing me.  Oh, and I also have to plan for tomorrow.”

“Plan for tomorrow?”

Nate couldn’t remember what else they needed to do for this last job other than for loose ends to be tied up.

“There’s a wedding tomorrow night.”

“You didn’t?”

“What?  I’m just helping.”

“Seriously.”

“You know me.  I love a good party.”

“While I go hide upstairs.”

“Oh, no you don’t.”

Pulling him out of the kitchen, she threw her arms up and told him with her actions that she’d somehow involved him in what she had planned.

“I am not officiating.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. It wouldn’t be legal then.  Besides, that priest outfit definitely would not be appropriate for you now.”

“Not like it was then either.”

“It had a certain symmetry.”

“Drunken Irish priest?”

“Don’t remind me.”

Turning to stand in front of him, she smiled his way, like she knew she’d get what she wanted in the end.

“Just humor me.”

“That’s the problem.”

“You are an utter bastard sometimes.”

As he ran his finger down her throat, he watched as she swallowed, heat building in her eyes as he did.

“I’m the bastard that actually lets you have your own way.”

“Occasionally.”

He snorted at that, knowing that she really did have him wrapped around her finger.

As he lowered his head to her neck, lips finding that one spot that would make her moan, he decided to actually ask her what she wanted from him so as to not be surprised the next day.

“And what do you want me to do?”

She didn’t answer for the moment, eliciting the moan that he had guaranteed would come out of her.

“Right now, more of that.  Tomorrow, I need you to bartend.”

“Oh, dammit Sophie,” he sighed as he traveled up to her ear.

“Hardison is going to DJ.  I’m hoping I can get Parker to help serve and Eliot is going to cook.”

“And when were you going to tell us all of this?”

“I am. Right now.”

He wanted her to stop talking, but she kept pulling away from him in between kisses.

“Mary Beth needs help.  We. Can. Help.”

“Payment?” he asked as her hands tangled in his hair, pulling his mouth back down to hers.

It didn’t take long for her tongue to sweep in, making him tighten his hold on her.

“Oh, um, excuse me?”

He hadn’t seen them entering the barn, he was so busy extracting payment from Sophie.  Sophie immediately put her game face on and turned to greet the two who had entered. They looked like kids, fresh faced, holding hands.

“Oh, sorry.  Didn’t see you there.  We were just discussing the wedding tomorrow. Come in.”

Were they ever that young?  As Nate watched the two young lovers, he realized that yes, he and Sophie were that young once. Only he chased her across the globe while she stole whatever took her fancy. Now she was a grifter who planned weddings?

“He’s the bartender.”

Nate held up his beer to take it back into the kitchen.

“Is he your boyfriend?” the girl said as he made it to the door.

Crashing into it had not been his intention, but he did, distracted by the girl’s question.

“Indeed he is. Nathan?” she called as he righted himself.

“Yes, dear,” he said as he attempted to get away from all the nonsense.

“Do be careful.”

He would be careful, until he had to make the hard decisions that would affect all their lives.  Latimer or anyone else would not spoil what they had built. He’d make sure they would all be safe.

“He’s not going to be drunk at the party, is he?”

The bottle dropped from his hands to shatter on the floor.

“Definitely not,” Sophie said loud enough for him to hear, choosing her words quickly.


	30. Parker and Eliot Bond/Hardison Scares Parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliot wants Parker to solve her issue with Hardison. Hardison says those three little words and throws Parker for a loop.

Chapter Thirty—Parker and Eliot Bond/Hardison Scares Parker

“Definitely not,” Parker reiterated to Eliot as she passed him a plate.

Sophie had set them up good, wanting all of them to join in her quest of making the wedding a success.  She had no idea why Sophie was doing this other than she could. 

“Why not?”

“Because.  That’s why.”

“Listen, I know you and Hardison.”

“No. No you don’t.”

“Just figure it out.”

That was what she was attempting to do, figure it out. She hadn’t said more than two words to Hardison since the night before.  Her brain was on overload, more like sensory overload, but overload nonetheless.  She wanted everything to work out in the end between her and Hardison.  Was that too much to ask for?

“I’m trying.”

“No, you’re not.  He’s driving me crazy.  You need to talk to him.  Work this out.”

She knew she needed to talk to him, she didn’t need Eliot to tell her that. 

“Do we have any more beer?” Nate asked as he came into the kitchen.

“Over there,” Eliot pointed to the refrigerator.

“Here, let me help.”

Parker picked out a couple cases of beer from the refrigerator in the corner to bring out to Nate as he grabbed more wine.

“This sucks,” she told Nate as she set the cases down.

“Sophie’s just trying to help.”

Parker watched as the wedding party took pictures.  Sophie looked like a director, pushing people one way, setting others up another way.

“She’s really good at this, isn’t she?”

“What?  Ordering people around?  Yep.”

“I wish I was more like Sophie.”

“How so?” Nate asked as he opened a bottle of wine.

“She knows what she wants and she goes after it.”

Nate’s eyebrow shot up at that.  Could she be wrong about Sophie?

“Depends on what it is.”

“Well, she went after you.  I’d say that counts.”

“She flirted with me for ten years.  Never went further than that.”

“Bullshit, Nate.  I don’t want to wait that long.”

“Then don’t.”

Handing her a bottle, Parker started pouring glasses until all of them were full.

“I want to make sure it all works out.”

“Works out why?  How would you do that?”

“I need to plan, for everything.”

Parker watched as Hardison DJ’ed the party, smiling at people and generally being friendly.  All Parker could do was sulk.

“You can’t plan something like this.”

“You don’t have a plan, do you?” Parker said as she turned to Nate, pointing a bottle his way.

“I didn’t say that.  You just need contingencies.”

“Yeah, hopefully not one where Hardison dies.  I hate plan M.”

“So do I.”

“None of them should include Sophie in a coma.”

“They wouldn’t.”

“Why is it that I don’t die in any of your plans?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You did. Remember?”

“You’re crafty.  You figure it out.”

“Oh.  You probably die in at least five of your plans.”

“That’s about right.”

“Ok, so if I plan out the way my life will be, then how many will include Hardison?”

Handing her another bottle, he looked her straight in the eyes.

“All of them.”

“All of them?”

“All of them.  What can I say?”

“How many include Sophie?”  Nate glared at her now.  “Not all of them?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Again, I call bullshit.”

After she finished pouring the wine Nate wanted her to pour for the toast, she made her way over to Hardison, standing behind him.  She shifted left and right until he decided to turn around to face her.

“Do you need something?”

She could tell he was very put out about her silence over the last day.

“I had to figure things out.”

“Kind of thought that was why you’ve given me the silent treatment.”

“Oh, yeah.  That.  Just necessary.”

“Remember what I told you.  You can talk to me.”

“I know.”

“We good?”

“Of course,” she acknowledged and lightly punched him on the shoulder. “Nate says in every plan he has thought out that we’d be together.”

“Nates says?”

“Yeah.  How do you like them apples?”

“At least I don’t die.”

“I didn’t ask him that.  I wonder if we die together?”

“Remember he said that you don’t die in any of them.”

“Oh, right.  I guess plan M is off the table.”

“Parker, listen, you can’t plan for these things.  Let’s just let it happen, OK?”

“I just want to make sure.”

Putting a finger to silence her, he made sure that the next song was up and running before answering her.  Sophie nodded his way, smiling to see he was on top of things.

“Make sure of what?” he asked as he took one side of his headphones off.

“That, you know, it works out.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

“If you do, you do.  I’ll get over it.  I mean, it would be a tragedy.  Tears, screaming, all that nonsense.”

“No screaming.”

“Not gonna happen.”

Sophie waved at Hardison, putting up the number two so he’d know what was going on.

“Yeah, I’ll just let you work.”

Before she could leave, he took her hand in his.  “Dance with me later?”

As she shyly smiled back, she could see his face light up.  “Yeah.”

“I love you, Parker,” he said in a low voice so that no one else could hear him.

“Ok, um, yeah.  Gotta go help Nate.  Before he calls for me.  See, I need to go help him.  And Eliot. Busy, busy.”

Backing away, Parker couldn’t breathe.  Now why did he have to go and do that?  Right out in public, where her reactions had to be tempered.  It took her no time to work her way over to the alcohol.  Downing at least three glasses in succession, Nate grabbed her hand on the fourth to stop her.

“Parker?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing.  Nothing at all is wrong.  I’ll go help Eliot.”

Sliding past the table, she grabbed another one for the road.  As she walked into the kitchen, there was Aimee, in the arms of Eliot, as he stirred something on the stove.  Dammit, now she didn’t have anywhere to hide.  She kept chanting in her mind that she would not freak out, that she would not bail on Hardison or Sophie for that matter.  Getting her emotions under control was the goal before she could face everyone again.  Climbing the stairs, she sat down to watch the action play out below.  Sophie had everything running smoothly, directing traffic with ease.  She even had Mary Beth and Robbie involved.  Aimee came out of the kitchen carrying the last of the food, cheeks bright pink, probably because of Eliot.

Parker couldn’t keep the tears from falling as she listened to the speeches by several people in the wedding crowd.  She wasn’t much for sentimentality, but because of everything that was going on, it hit her like a ton of bricks at that moment.

She loved him.  It washed over her like a tidal wave, hitting her hard and throwing her for a loop, all washed up on the shore right after.  This was not what she had planned on happening, at least not so soon.  Love was a foreign concept, so she really didn’t know she was supposed to feel kinda crappy and lightheaded, but she did.  Maybe that was the wine too.  Possibly.


	31. Hardison Thinks He Messed Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hardison wants to fix whatever is wrong between him and Parker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I didn't realize how short this chapter was.

Chapter Thirty-One—Hardison Thinks He Messed Up

He’d gone and done it again.  Pushed Parker too far, too fast.  He watched as she slowly made her way up the steps, sitting down to hide from everyone below.  It hurt watching her walk away, not knowing what to say.  As he listened to the speeches for the newlywed couple, he thought that it would be nice someday to experience this, with her.  Only now that he’d said the L word, he’d possibly, potentially ruined it for the both of them.

How could he fix this?  Beg her forgiveness?  Act like he’d never said it?  He’d put it out there, so he needed to own what he said.  But what if she didn’t want to say it back?

“You ready for the first dance?” Sophie asked him as he stared up at Parker, whose face was in shadow now.

“Um, yeah.  I am.  Look, I gotta talk to Parker.  I’ll put the songs on and let it play.”

Sophie had a look of concern on her face, putting her hand on his shoulder in support.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No.  Just wish me luck.”

Luck.  Something he needed a lot of right at that moment.  Pushing play, the father of the bride led her out onto the floor.  Now he could talk to Parker and make it right.

 


	32. Nate and Sophie Have Way Too Much Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate can't keep his hands to himself.

Chapter Thirty-Two—Nate and Sophie Have Way Too Much Fun

Sophie blew out a breath as she watched Hardison work his way over to the stairs.  Young love.  It was sometimes beautiful, but too many times tragic.

“Ok, now where do you want me?”

She wanted to tell Nate on his knees in front of her, but she didn’t want him to get the wrong impression.  To him, it was either about sex or about matrimony, with him always picking the first option. He could relate to her on that level.  Could he relate to her in a more serious way? So she turned to look at him, arching her eyebrow in question.

“Oh darling, if you only knew.”

“Would I have fun?”

“Possibly.”

“Why don’t we make that a probably and leave it at that.”

When he whispered in her ear, it sent chills down her spine.  Turning her head again, she looked at him as he did the same. The sparkle in his eyes was still there, after all the time they’d spent chasing, arguing, goading and then catching each other.  Why would she want something else in her life?

“The ever hopeful Nate. Behave yourself.”

“What are you going to do if I don’t?”

His mouth quirked up a bit, like he knew he was baiting her, making her want him in a room full of people.  Biting her lip, she noticed that all he was looking at were her lips, with an occasional look down her dress.

This was the way it was between them, before either one of them could do anything about what they were feeling.  Their banter was always foreplay, their words and looks causing him to blush, causing her to have long, lonely nights alone, pining for a man that she thought could never be hers.  Now he was here, standing right next to her, hands touching where they weren’t supposed to be touching in a room full of wedding guests.

Leading him away from the crowd, she yanked the door open to the cleaning closet, hoping to spend a few minutes alone with him, to tell him to behave himself until the party was over.  Only he didn’t behave himself, wrinkling the bottom of her dress as his hands started to roam.

“I have to go back out there,” she panted out as his hands pushed her dress up.

“In a minute,” he moaned into her neck, latching on.

“Is this all you think about?” she asked as his fingers grazed over her underwear.

“Mostly. Right now, definitely.”

Her dress was modest by her standards, not too short, no cleavage showing.  Nate was making a mess of it, hands wrinkling the soft cotton as he pushed it up around her waist.

“Don’t you dare mess up my hair,” she cried as his hand found her wet.

He’d do that to her every time.  With just a look, she was hot and almost panting.  With a touch, she was wet and ready with need to have him. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered into her ear.

As she tried to wrap her leg around him, he let out a groan of pain unfortunately.

“Ribs,” she said as her leg dropped to the floor.

Turning her slowly, he placed her hands against the wall. Her underwear slipped down and off as his hands moved up her front.

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” Sophie told him as she felt him grind against her backside.

“Good idea.  Definitely a good idea.”

She gasped with pleasure as he got down to business, pushing in and out at a steady pace as his fingers danced along her thighs.  The other hand was directly next to hers tensing against the wall.  His breath against her ear was hot, lips sliding along her neck and back.  Her legs were almost ready to give out if he didn’t hurry it along.  Pushing back against him, his groan of pleasure heightened hers. The orgasm hit her like a freight train, barreling through her body, making it bow back as his movements became more frantic.  Thank goodness the music was loud outside because she could not keep from practically screaming his name.  Her name came out as a low groan as he finished not too long after she did.  How she was still able to stand escaped her, unless the fact that one of his arms held her upright.  Leaning her forehead against the wall, his head fell to her back as they both attempted to slow their breathing.

“We’re never going to be normal, are we?” Nate stated as he laughed into her back.

Sophie joined him, laughing as he tried to help her fix her outfit and her hair.  She lightly slapped his hand away as he smoothed down her dress and handed her the underwear that he had yanked off.

“My legs are still shaky,” she said as she turned in his arms.

The look he gave her almost knocked her off her feet.  If she didn’t believe that he loved her before, she was almost certain he did now. 

"You’re incorrigible.  Sneaking off in the middle of a wedding for a quickie.”

She tapped him on the chest, eliciting another groan of pain from him.

“Hurts.  A lot.”

“We could have snuck upstairs.”

His lips touched hers lightly.  “Wouldn’t have been as much fun.”


	33. Eliot Figures Out What He Needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliot finally works out in his mind what he needs.

Chapter Thirty-Three—Eliot Figures Out What He Needs

“So, when are you leaving?”

Those dreaded words that came out of Aimee’s mouth as she helped him with the last of the dishes for the buffet shook him.  They shouldn’t, since he’d left her twice before.  At least the last time they were on good terms.

“Tuesday at the earliest.”

“It’ll be quiet around here without you and the rest of the team.  I’m sure that Mary Beth would love for you to stay.”

“I can’t.  We have clients. I can’t.”

“Not a problem,” Aimee said, turning from him to pick up another plate.

“Aimee, I don’t know what to do, what I can offer you.  You know my situation.”

“I do.  I never said I wanted anything from you.”

Her words were too bright, too forced to be real.  She wasn’t a good enough grifter.  There was no way that those words were true. He knew that just by looking into her eyes as she finished putting the rest of the meat on a plate.

“But you did say you needed me.  That counts.  That definitely counts.”

“Counts for what?” she asked, hand shaking now.

“I’ve been told that I’ve shut down, can’t open myself up to new things.  Whatever.  What I do know is this is the most fun I’ve had in years.  I guess I just can’t stop shutting people out.  Those four idiots have made me soft.”

The unshed tears in Aimee’s eyes said it all.  She wanted there to be something between them.  She needed him to be there for her.

“Not too soft.  Eliot Spencer can’t be too soft.  Just a little bit.”

“Fucking lunatics.  My boss is a control freak, Sophie doesn’t know who she is half the time, which by the way can be really scary.  Parker jumps off of buildings at a moment’s notice and has fun doing it.  Hardison just goes along with it all and smiles.  And I have to get them out of trouble when things go wrong.”

“So they’re eccentric.”

“They’re crazy.”

“And you wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“They let me cook.”

Aimee laughed at that last comment, wrapping her arms around him as she did.

“So where are we?”

“I dunno.  I can come visit you.   I have a shitload of time off.  You can come visit me.  We’ll work it out.”

The muffled scream of Sophie yelling Nate made Eliot laugh too.

“What is it with those two?”

“Making up for lost time.  Hey, they danced around each other for a dozen years.”

“That is crazy.”

Aimee raised her head to Eliot, placing a sweet kiss on his lips.

“I know of better places to screw your brains out than a closet.”

“Oh you do?”

“Yeah.  Kinda know the lay of the land.”

“Eliot, the toast,” Mary Beth urged the two to come out of the kitchen.

Eliot took Aimee’s hand in his, slipping to the back of the party to watch the festivities.  Off beside him, he saw Nate and Sophie walk back into the party, Sophie looking like she’d been ravished and Nate with a smile on his face a mile wide.  At least he wasn’t as much of a bastard now that he finally had Sophie.

“Why don’t I stay on for another week or so?  Help out around here.”

“Sounds nice.”

Aimee looked at him with joy, smile wide.  Her hand tightened in his a little, if just to give him the acknowledgment that she wouldn’t run if he made the effort to figure them out.  Maybe it wouldn’t last between the two of them.  Maybe she’d get tired of his antics or get tired of the way he led his life.  He had to try.


	34. Hardison Figures Out What He Needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally Hardison and Parker are on the same page.

Chapter Thirty-Four—Hardison Figures Out What He Needs

“Hey.”

“Oh, hey.”

Hardison could see the unshed tears in her eyes.

“Something wrong? I mean, is there anything I…”

“Nope.  Just sit here with me.”

Her hand inched over to his, squeezing when she finished.  His shy smile made her heart pound just a little harder.

“They’re happy.”

“Yes, indeed they are.”

“Oh, would you look at that?  Eliot is holding Aimee’s hand.”

“Yeah, I see that.  Alright.”

“Oh, and Nate has his arm around Sophie.  Hmm, PDA.  That does not happen very often.  Now Sophie is looking into his eyes.  Aw, now they’re kissing.”

Hardison looked to see that Nate and Sophie had started kissing each other while another song had started playing. 

“Oh boy, a little too much PDA, Nate.”

Only Eliot tapping them on the shoulder had stopped where Nate’s hand was headed.  Sophie giggled, but drew Nate’s hand into her own, if just to stop him.

“Think we’ll ever be like that, when we’re older?” Parker asked.

“Um, not sure I want to be like that.  Do you wanna?”

“I wanna be Parker and Alec.  Ok?”

“Got it.”

Squeezing her hand again, he could see her smile now. Pulling his head down, she whispered in his ear that she loved him.

“Really?”

“Yes, seriously.”

“Alright,” he told her, putting his forehead against his.

“Can we have sex now?”

Hardison looked around to make sure no one else heard her declaration of intentions.

“Possibly in the near future.  I have to finish DJing.”

“How many songs did you put into that playlist?”

“Twelve.”

“How many have played?”

“Um, two.  On to the third one.  What are you thinking?”

“Nate and Sophie’s room is just behind us.”

“Do you have any quarters?”

“Plenty.”

Hardison grabbed Parker’s hand and pulled her up to him.


	35. Nate Figures Out What He Needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nate and Sophie figure out what they need too. And they argue. What else is new?

Chapter Thirty-Five—Nate Figures Out What He Needs

Much later, while the rest of them were cleaning up, Nate watched as Eliot and Robbie stacked chairs.  The wine glasses were now all cleaned and put away.  Sophie snapped off her cleaning gloves, sighing with pleasure that the wedding went off without a hitch.  Of course, at some point in time, Eliot had to play the music since Hardison and Parker had disappeared and not reappeared. He had no idea where they went.

“Thank you again for all your help, Nate.”

“Listen, Mary Beth.  It was our pleasure.  It was kinda fun.” And a little sadistic as he watched Sophie look wistful at the bride.

“It was perfect.  Any time you want to use the barn for your own purposes, give me a call.  It’s on the house.”

Barn for his own purposes?  What?

“That was quite beautiful,” Sophie said behind him.

“It was.”

He couldn’t stop looking at her, curls messy, lipstick gone, but smile a mile wide.  She was beaming.

“Nate?”

“Yes.”

“You’re staring.”

“I have every right to stare.”

“Stop.”

“Why?”

“Hardison and Parker ain’t getting paid for this gig,” Eliot yelled out.

Mary Beth took a tired looking Robbie’s hand and led him out of the barn.

“Night, Rob,” Eliot said as his nephew high fived him.  “You can have their wages.”

“Really?”

“They bailed.”

“Awesome.”

“Did you tell Eliot he wasn’t getting paid?” Nate asked Sophie.

“Nope.  Must have slipped my mind.”

“I need to rest.  My ribs are still hurting.”

“Well, I wonder why.”

As the two of them slowly made their way up the steps, Nate stopped at the top to say something, but wondered if he should.  There definitely had to be some changes with how the two of them dealt with each other. Taking her hand in his, he opened the door to their room.

“Hardison,” Sophie yelled.

“Parker,” Nate finished.  “Laundry.”

Both turned and walked right back out as quickly as possible.  He could hear Aimee and Eliot laughing down below, knowing what Nate and Sophie had discovered.

“At least they were mostly covered.”

“Mostly,” Nate said as he grimaced.

“Not like we all haven’t seen Parker before.”

“Get out of my room,” Nate yelled back to the two younger members of the team.

A few minutes later, both Parker and Hardison walked out of the room, bedsheets in tow. 

“I’m going to do some laundry,” Hardison said as he walked by.

“Not like we ever use the bed anyway.”

“Maybe I wanted to.”

“Well, if you put it that way.  Go find some sheets.”

“I can’t bend over to put them on.”

“I am not your servant, Nate.”

“My ribs still hurt.  Remember that?”

“My feet hurt from the wedding.  I’ve worked all day.”

He could see out of the corner of his eye Eliot and Aimee watching them, like a tennis match between two well matched opponents.

“Do you know how many drinks I poured?”

“And how many did you drink?”

“None.  Well, one because I had to take it away from Parker.  For her own sake.”

“Bullshit.”

“Get a room,” Eliot yelled from downstairs.

“I have one, thank you very much,” Nate yelled back.

This time he could slam the door and make it count.

“Sheets?” Sophie reminded him.

“Dammit, Hardison.”


	36. Aimee Gets What She Needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aimee's POV. What has she done to join this group of misfits and crazies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished! When I first started writing this, it was just supposed to be an adventure. Then it turned into a relationship fic because none of the characters would behave themselves. They kept hijacking the fic. I tried to pair off different people to show different POVs throughout the fic. I think at times it's a little OOC for them sometimes, but so what. I had fun. Hope you've had fun too!

Chapter Thirty-Six—Aimee Gets What She Needs

“So just the two of you?”

“Just the two of us.  With the way that Nate and Sophie bicker, I need a vacation.”

Hardison and Parker were going off in the RV for a mini vacation while Nate and Sophie were flying off to some destination for a little rest too.  They probably wouldn’t get much rest, but downtime was downtime.

“You alright, staying here for a while?”

“Yeah.  I’ll check in.  Be back before you know it.”

“Two weeks.  We gotta case lined up.”

“I know, I know.”

“Bye Alec, bye Parker,” Aimee said as she waved to them goodbye.

“So?”

“So?”

“What do we do now?”

“Let’s see.  Horses, chores, more things to do with horses, more chores.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Hey, that’s my world.”

“I like your world.  I also like my world.”

“I noticed.  Your father called.”

“I know.  I’m going over there tomorrow.”

“Want me to tag along?”

“Nah.  I got this.”

Aimee smiled at him, shaking her head as she did.

“You really are incredible, you know that?”

 

Three years later

“It’s beautiful.”

“You did a good job.”

“I keep thinking that I should be a wedding planner.  Now I’m just retired.”

Aimee watched as Sophie put the finishing touches on the barn.

“Thank you, so much.”

These five people, these frustrating five people had come to mean so much more to her than she would ever had realized all those years ago when Eliot introduced them.  They had helped her dad save what was left of his stable and the one horse that was alive.  Then they’d brought Eliot back to her, a bit mended, still ornery, but a better man than he’d ever been.

“I probably should sit down now,” Sophie said as she flexed her foot.

“Please don’t overdue it.”

Sophie eased down onto a folding chair carefully, placing her feet up on another one.

“Four more hours,” she reminded Aimee.

Aimee was scared and elated and somewhat jumpy, but she was going through with it, whether he wanted to or not.  She didn’t care that he might get cold feet, that his head hurt from the bachelor party from the night before (dammit Nate and Hardison).  She was getting married, even if she had to drag Eliot Spencer kicking and screaming up to the altar in the barn.

“I should probably wake him up.”

“I’m just trying to figure out what the best way to wake him?”

“Get up,” Aimee could hear Parker yelling in the distance.

Both women started to laugh, only Sophie clenched a little as she did.

“Maybe I shouldn’t laugh so hard.  Ouch, that hurt.”

“Laughing isn’t supposed to hurt.”

“No, it isn’t.  Oh well.  The show must go on.”

Sophie really did look like a beached whale.  Since she had another month and a half to go, Aimee thought she couldn’t get any bigger.  Something didn’t look right though.  She’d help too many mares give birth to not know.

“Uh, Sophie.  Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing.  There false.”

“False?”

“That’s what they said in the classes.  False contractions.”

“How long have these been going on?”

“All morning.  They’ll stop eventually.”

“How strong?”

“Oh, not too bad.”

“How far apart?”

Aimee was certainly not a doctor. 

“Ten to twelve minutes, maybe longer.”

“Four freaking hours.”

“I’m fine.  False contractions.”

“Dammit.”

“Oh hey.  What’s up? I know you ladies are setting up, but music, people.  Here are my selections.”

Hardison had his laptop out and was showing Aimee what he had chosen to play.

“Fine.  This is just fine.  I’m game.”

“Ok, where the hell is that paper?” Nate said as he came into the barn.

Sophie smiled his way.  Even Aimee knew that smile was a bit fake. Luckily Sophie had a contraction just before he came into the barn.  She had a good ten to twelve minutes before Nate needed to disappear again.

“For fuck’s sake, Parker.  Leave me the hell alone.”

“The bear has been awoken out of hibernation,” Hardison joked.  “Don’t poke bears with sticks, Parker.”

“I ain’t gonna.  Man, he’s crabby when he’s hung over.”

Nate pointed to something on the table, then picked up the paper in his hands.  Before he walked away, he lovingly kissed Sophie’s belly and dove in for a more intimate kiss for Sophie. 

“Don’t say anything, Aimee,” Sophie demanded.  “We are gonna have this wedding if I have to kill every single one of you.”

Oh great, Aimee thought.  Sophie was turning psycho, Parker had woken Eliot up before she had to, Hardison’s playlist was crap, and Nate had some kind of speech he wanted to give.  Sure, her wedding to Eliot was going to go off without a hitch.  Only it didn’t.

 

“How many minutes apart?” Eliot asked Sophie again.

“Seven, you dickface.”

Nate grimaced at Eliot and wondered if he should get out of the way just in case Sophie threw another fist at him again. Aimee tried to provide some comfort to the former grifter, but all Sophie wanted to do was keep cursing at all the men in the group.

“We are having this wedding.  Now get it started.”

They all wondered if they should do as they were told, but by the look on Sophie’s face, they probably should.  Aimee took her place at the end of the aisle to march down.  Sophie sat in a chair now, not wanting to stand.  Parker led the procession, throwing popcorn?  Oh boy, Aimee thought. She should have checked to see what Parker had in store.  Popcorn it was. 

The wedding was really small, maybe twenty people at the most.  Including the six (soon to be seven) of them, it was Mary Beth, Robbie, a few service buddies of Eliot’s, a cop from Boston named Bonanno and his wife, some guy who was military and very, very tall, and a very large guy named Hurley who kept hugging everyone, except for Sophie who growled at him when he tried.  He hugged Nate instead, who almost passed out because Sophie was having a major contraction as Hurley was hugging Nate.  Then there was someone named Peggy who was a friend of Parker’s and Hurley’s date.  Some really tall, leggy blonde named Tara who seemed to know Sophie quite well. Aimee usually wasn’t the jealous type, but she hoped that Eliot had kept his hands to himself when it came to the woman.  Nate’s ex-wife also was there along with the guy who dealt with the insurance claim for the horses all those years ago.  She thought his name was Sterling. Nate kept eyeing him as did Eliot, who really didn’t want Sterling anywhere near her, but Sophie insisted, so who was she to say anything.  Then there was her dad and his wife and a few other friends from Kentucky along with a few friends in Oklahoma.

Sophie was tapping her foot hard on the ground, probably attempting to make sure the ceremony moved along before she dropped the baby on the floor right in front of everyone.  Nate looked like he wanted nothing more than to take a drink of the wine, which he probably did because it looked like a few glasses were missing.

“Ok, let’s go, let’s go,” Parker urged.

The preacher luckily was early, so they started right away.  Sophie moaned again, holding Nate’s hand so hard he grimaced.

“Dearly beloved….”

Nate actually read a speech about going to Home Depot, which meant nothing to Aimee, but it made Sophie cry even more than she had at that point.  Eliot just laughed, but Parker was making the motion of move it along, so they all just listened.  It didn’t take long for the preacher to tell Eliot to kiss the bride and he did, for several long minutes until someone coughed politely.

“So, we’re having a baby here,” Parker reminded everyone once Eliot and Aimee walked down the aisle as husband and wife.

“Maybe some music, sweetheart?” Hardison asked, only to be cut short by Sophie growling through another contraction.

“She’s five minutes apart,” Eliot explained, knowing that he wanted to go to the hospital too.

“We weren’t supposed to have her here.  I wanna go home, Nate.  Can we go home?  It’s too early.  It’s just too early.”

“Or maybe they counted wrong,” Parker said out the side of her mouth.  “I did warn them.”

“We’ll have her here. It’ll be OK,” Nate tried to sooth her.

“Not in this barn.  Just, not here.”

“Ok. Let’s go then.”

“I don’t think I can,” she said as her legs would not move.

Oh no, Aimee thought.  This could not be happening.  On her wedding day, one of her best friends was having a baby, in a barn. She’d come to think of Sophie as one of her best friends, all of them that way now that she thought of it.

“Why, sweetheart?”

“Because I have to push,” Sophie said, who looked like her head was going to start spinning around like Linda Blair.

“No, no, no, no.  Five minutes,” Eliot said as he came over to the woman.

“Oh hell no, Soph.  You can just hold it.”

They all looked at Hardison like he was crazy.

“Call an ambulance or something,” Nate suggested.

“Jesus, are all of you people that inept,” Sterling suggested as he watched the scene unfold.

“Shut up, Sterling,” more than one person yelled out.

It was only when Maggie and Eliot really looked when all of them realized that Sophie was not going to make it to the hospital.

“You know, it would be better if Sophie didn’t give birth on the barn floor,” Maggie told the rest of the group.

“Upstairs,” Mary Beth suggested.

Nate and Eliot carried Sophie up the stairs, all the while she was ranting that Nate would never touch her again.

“And here I thought I was bad when I gave birth.  Poor Nate.  He had so many bruises.”

“Too much information,” Sterling said as he looked at Maggie.

“Jim?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Shut up.”

Maggie, Tara and Mary Beth followed.  Did any of them actually call for an ambulance?  Did any of them, other than the few of them that had actually given birth, ever help a living creature during her time of need?  Aimee threw her hands up, found some sterile gloves and clean towels and headed up after them.

“Good luck,” Hurley called after them all.

Eliot seemed to be the one in charge once Aimee made it through the crowd.

“Listen, all of you.  Out, unless you’re a doctor or Nate, because he did this to her, so I think he oughta stay.”

Aimee almost laughed at what Eliot said, but he was right.

“Aim, need your help.”

“Yep.  I’m here.” In her wedding gown, which was a simple white dress that Sophie had helped her pick out.

The others left except for Mary Beth.  “Eliot, you sure you can do this?”

“I am Aimee.  How many horses have you birthed?”

“Lost count.”

“I’m not a horse, Nate,” Sophie groaned.  “I have to push.”

That urge to push, Aimee had seen many horses do it without help.  There were a few times when Aimee had to intervene to help out.  And there was once when she had to pull out a stillborn, which was not fun and had her crying for days.

“I just hope she’s dilated enough,” Eliot said as they both looked at the baby’s head crowning.

“Just hold on, Soph.  Almost done,” Nate said as he held Sophie in his arms.

“I have to push a bowling ball out my vagina.  Not done,” she yelled and started to push without anyone knowing.

“And there she goes.”

Three pushes later, Aimee could see that the baby was almost out.

“Come on, Sophie. One more big push.  You can do it,” Aimee urged her friend.

“Oh my god, I hate you, Nate.  I hate you, I hate you.  You are never touching me again.”

With that tirade, the baby’s head came out.  Both Eliot and Aimee went to work, making sure the baby’s airway was clear. Once the shoulders were out, the baby just popped out, right into Eliot’s arms.  Both Sophie and Nate started crying, as did their baby girl.

Aimee could hear Parker screaming at the door that the baby was here, probably listening in at the door.  Off in the distance, Aimee could hear the sounds of sirens, probably the ambulance that they had called almost an hour before.  Eliot handed the baby to Sophie.

“Oh, she’s beautiful, Nate.”

“Just like her mother.  Pretty eager to see the world.”

“She’s not that tiny.  Heaven forbid that she would have stayed in there six more weeks.”

“Probably miscalculated the due date.  Happens all the time,” Aimee reminded the two.

“So I was pregnant possibly six weeks before?”

“Maybe?  She’s here, so it doesn’t matter,” Eliot reminded them.

“You bastard. You knew.  Why didn’t you tell me?” Sophie said as she gently slapped Nate on the arm.

“I tried.  You wouldn’t listen.  And then the wedding.  Why do you think I was following you around?”

“And made me take that course?”

Aimee then slapped Eliot’s arm.  Sophie wasn’t supposed to know that.

“What course?”

“Just how to deliver babies. You know, just in case.”

“I knew,” Nate said as he held the baby in his arms.

“But how?  I just, the birth control.  The first time we did anything without?  Oh bloody hell.”

“TMI,” Eliot said as the paramedics came in the room.

Nate glared at him a little bit, now realizing that his hitter had helped his wife give birth.

The paramedics took over, helping with the rest of the process while both Eliot and Aimee cleaned up.  She was lucky that her dress was intact and no stains on it.

“Do I have to go to the hospital?”

“Yes, honey. You do.  Advanced maternal age, remember?”

“Advanced maternal age?  I’m not that old.”

Uh oh, Aimee thought.  Another argument between the two.  She’d heard plenty in the last few years.

“No, of course not,” Nate agreed.

“Baby,” Aimee could hear Parker say as the door opened. “I wanna see. I wanna see.”

Nate gently uncovered the baby’s face so that Parker could see her for the first time.

“She’s all squishy.”

“You’d be squishy too if you had to come out of Sophie’s, I am not going to finish that thought,” Hardison said, completely embarrassed.

“Oh, she’s all squishy,” Tara agreed.  “Holy shit, I can’t believe you pushed that thing out.”

Maggie cried a little when she saw the baby, pushing past everyone to a quiet corner.  Sterling was there to console her though.  Peggy said that the baby was beautiful and perfect, which had Hurley wondering what in hell was wrong with her.  There were tears in Mary Beth’s eyes too, probably because her baby was now a teenager.

“Good job, Spencer,” Aimee told her new husband.

“Couldn’t have done it without you, Spencer.”

“Hey, remember us talking about the name change?”

“No.  I don’t.”

“Ok,” Aimee let out slowly.

“It’s a nice name.  A good name.  Spencer is a good, family name.”

“Hey, I’m not saying I don’t like it.”

As Aimee argued with Eliot about taking his name, she smiled his way, knowing that whatever happened, he’d be there for her.  Hell, the other four would also.  They’d become a team, even if Nate and Sophie were retired.

She and Eliot had decided that they’d lay low for a little while and figure out their next move.  Both Hardison and Parker were still in the game, with adding Tara and Sterling to the mix, it made for a volatile combination.  She wanted Eliot nowhere near that mix.

“How come only the two of you got married here?”

Mary Beth didn’t know the whole story.

“Well, Nate and Sophie eloped in England, but on their honeymoon got put in jail, arrested by Sterling, then they went on this adventure because to get out of jail Sterling blackmailed them into helping him.  Eliot wanted to punch him, but Nate said no, let me do it.  Then Hardison hacked into Interpol, which sent a ton of agents after us until Sterling called it off.  Once we were in Spain, it all came together when Tara showed up, without clothes mind you…”

“Without clothes?” Aimee asked.

“She does that sometimes.  Go on, Parker.”

“Then Nate overthrew that city government because hell, why not, they were evil and then we went to Paris because Sophie wanted shoes. I don’t know what she sees in all those shoes, but then they said they wanted to have their honeymoon alone, only the two of us (Parker pointed to herself and Hardison) got into a teensy bit of trouble.”

“You stole some diamonds.”

“Ok, so we stole some diamonds.  It was for a good cause.”

“Good cause?” Sterling lamented.

“Hey, it all worked out, now didn’t it?” Hardison reminded Sterling.

“It took me six months’ worth of paperwork to clear the lot of you.”

“Oh, come on.  It was worth it.”  Maggie was right.  It was worth it.

“Hospital?” Eliot shook his head at the others.

“Oh man, does Nate look like he needs a hug?” Hurley suggested.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Peggy told him as she took his arm.

“We gave the diamonds back,” Parker continued.  “Because there were these bad guys in Rome.  We went after them. Something about the Vatican.  And manuscripts.”

And Parker ran out of steam once they got into their cars.

“No, you guys go on ahead,” Eliot waved to the others.

With only Aimee and himself in the car, Aimee turned to look at him.

“We’re not going to the hospital, are we?”

“We saw the baby. Hell, we saw a lot more than I was willing to see of Sophie.  So no, we are off on our honeymoon before any one of those yahoos knows.”

“Hardison will find us.”

“No he won’t.  We are off the grid.”

“Where are we off the grid?”

“A cabin.  Out in the middle of the woods.  No phones, no TVs, nothing.”

Aimee made a funny face at that.  She knew that was Eliot’s kind of fun, but not so much hers.

“Alright, I can’t keep a straight face.  Paris.  Sophie lent us her apartment.”

“Yippee. That is the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me.”

“The nicest?”

Aimee grabbed him and planted a kiss on his lips, smacking his arm as she pulled away.

“One thing.  Our plane doesn’t take off for another four hours.”

“I seem to know that there’s this room…”

“Not the one that Sophie just gave birth in?”

“Nah. Smells like horses.  Homey.”

Eliot smiled at her then and stuck out his hand for hers.


End file.
